(Yicai) March 25 -- Foreign direct investment into China is shifting to the less-developed western and central parts of the country amid slowing growth in coastal regions.

Thirteen out of the 23 administrative regions that have disclosed such data for last year revealed growing sums by foreign entities that poured more money into factories and acquisitions. The tally of Sichuan rose by 7 percent to CNY24.5 billion (USD3.4 billion), ranking first among central and western regions. Hubei was No. 1 in central China with an increase of 11 percent to CNY19 billion.

Since last year, Sichuan has introduced a series of policies to attract more investment. It promoted 14 projects of Fortune 500 companies, including Airbus, Siemens, and Volvo Cars, and witnessed capital increases and share additions of more than 210 foreign-funded enterprises, while 32 foreign-funded firms reinvested their profits, per the local government.

Compared with eastern China, central and western regions have low bases so attracting some big-ticket projects can spur rapid growth, an investing insider from a local government said to Yicai. China has a huge domestic market, the source said, adding that focusing on central and western regions is conducive to exploring this part of the market.

Familiar investment targets are slowly losing their allure. Eastern China's Jiangsu province continued to rank No. 1 in terms of FDI but the sum dropped by 17 percent to USD25.3 billion last year from the year before. Guangdong was No. 3 even though its tally declined by 13 percent to CNY159.2 billion (USD22.1 billion). Shandong, No. 5, saw a 23 percent decrease to USD17.5 billion.

Among the top five provinces, only two managed to hold onto growth last year. Shanghai added 0.5 percent to reach USD24.1 billion while Zhejiang province boosted its FDI by 5 percent to USD20.2 billion.

The central government aims to maintain the trend of more equal development. In the latest FDI action plan, released on March 19, the State Council suggests that central, western, and northeastern regions take advantage of their low cost of land, energy, labor, and logistics to seize new projects that might otherwise go to eastern regions.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine