While the government had begun a campaign to crack down on "irrational” overseas investment at the end of last year, it had not issued official rules until now.
"Profound changes are taking place in international and domestic situations, and Chinese enterprises face not just relatively good opportunities but also various risks and challenges in overseas investments," the State Council, China’s cabinet, said in the statement.
In a report from Bloomberg, Robin Xing, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, said the recent changes are "part of the precautionary package to prevent a rebound in capital outflows.”
"China wants its money to focus on
specific sectors that can help boost long-term growth potential," said
Zhou Hao, a senior emerging-markets strategist at Commerzbank AG in Singapore.
"The new policy also tries to close the loophole of suspicious capital
outflows and possible money laundering."
Source: GMB / AG Brief
