SINGAPORE, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- China represented the top investment destination within Asia for Singapore companies, with Direct Investments Abroad (DIA) of 76.6 billion Singapore dollars (62.4 billion U.S dollars) as of the end of 2011, up 12.3 percent, the city-state's trade promotion agency, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, announced on Thursday.
Following China, Malaysia and Indonesia enjoyed the second and third DIAs from Singapore, registered at 34 billion Singapore dollars (27.7 billion U.S dollars) and 32.3 billion Singapore dollars (26.3 billion U.S dollars) repetitively until end-2011.
The IE Singapore said thanks to the brilliant performances in these three countries and also other countries in the region, Asia remained a bright spot for Singapore's investments abroad. The city-state's DIA to Asia region grew by 6.5 percent in 2011, much higher than the overall growth of 1.7 percent.
The total DIA in Asia standed at 240 billion Singapore dollars (195.4 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 57.7 percent of Singapore's total DIA. The agency said emerging markets continued to be the engine of growth for Singapore's investments and trade, adding that "the growing middle class, young population and urbanization in these markets offer opportunities" which will fuel companies' growth.
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