The foreign direct investment (FDI) China attracted in August climbed 11.1 percent year-on-year to 8.446 billion U.S. dollars, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

The growth rate slowed down from an increase of 19.83 percent in July, when the FDI reached 8.297 billion U.S. dollars.

The August figures brought the total FDI for the first eight months of this year to 77.63 billion U.S. dollars, up 17.7 percent year-on-year, the MOC said in a statement on its website.

China approved the establishment of 18,006 foreign-invested companies in the first eight months of 2011, up 7.68 percent year-on-year, according to the MOC.