BEIJING, Jan. 21 -- For the first time in its history, China has become a net capital exporter with outbound direct investment outnumbering foreign direct investment in 2014.

China's outbound investment reached 116 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, an increase of 15.5 percent from a year earlier. The total included 102.89 billion U.S. dollars in non-financial sectors, up 14.1 percent year-on-year. Both the growths were much faster than the 1.7 percent gain recorded in foreign direct investment, which was 119.6 billion dollars, the Ministry of Commerce said in a press conference on Wednesday.

"If the Chinese firms' investment through third parties were included, the total ODI volume would reach about 140 billion U.S. dollars, which means China is already a net outbound investor," said Shen Danyang, spokesman with MOC.

Chinese investors are investing in real estate, businesses and other assets overseas while growth at home is slowing. The country registered the slowest expansion pace in 2014 in 24 years, according to the GDP data released Tuesday.