China has revised its figure for actual foreign direct investment in 2005 to 72.41 billion dollars, 12 billion dollars more than the previous estimate.

The newly revised number, announced by Vice Commerce Minister Ma Xiuhong, marks a 19.4 percent year-on-year growth over 2004, rather than a 0.5 percent slide that the earlier figure of 60.33 billion dollars had suggested.

"We revise the (FDI) figure every year but in the past, they were just small revisions so they didn't attract too much attention," Ma told reporters in a speech later posted on the Commerce Ministry website.

"In 2005, the banking, insurance and securities sectors received investments of 11.8 billion dollars. This is a very big figure, which meant FDI in 2005 reached 72.41 billion dollars, up 19.42 percent year-on-year."

A revision had been expected following state media reports in late February that equivalent numbers from the foreign exchange regulator were some 22 billion dollars higher than the Commerce Ministry's figures.

Those reports had suggested that the disparity between the two numbers was in fact "hot money" inflow coming in, disguised as foreign investment.

However, this scenario now appears less plausible given the strength of FDI in the financial sector, Credit Suisse First Boston economist Dong Tao said.

"In the past, China really hadn't had much FDI flows into the financial sector. That's the bottom line," he said, noting this data had traditionally been omitted from the publicly released headline number each year.

Dong Tao called the revision "very significant," adding that it showed a reorientation of FDI from manufacturing -- where inflows had hit a ceiling -- to the financial sector, where they have just begun.

"The FDI trend is now leaning towards the services sector," he said.

China has been one of the top destinations for FDI worldwide in recent years.

However, the rate of inflows was previously believed to be leveling off after a surge following the country's 2001 accession to the World Trade Organization.