China’s outbound direct investment is for the first time set to exceed investment into the country, highlighting the ongoing shift of global economic influence to the east.

Outbound direct investment rose 21.6 per cent in the first nine months compared with last year to $75bn. A senior Chinese official said yesterday that on current trends it would probably exceed inbound investment by the end of the year. “This is just a matter of time; if it doesn’t happen this year then it will happen in the very near future,” said Zhang Xiangchen, assistant minister of commerce. “China is already a capital exporting country and it is now poised to become a net exporter of capital.”

From Africa and Latin America to the US and Europe, cash-rich Chinese investors are snapping up real estate, companies and other assets while growth at home is poised to fall to its slowest annual pace in nearly two-and-a-half decades. This month a Chinese insurance company bought the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan for nearly $2bn while in the same week state-owned Bright Food Group took a majority stake in Italian olive oil maker Salov Group.