(Yicai Global) Dec. 11 -- Singapore has overtaken the US as the most popular foreign market for Chinese investors, reported Russia's Sputniknews.com on Dec. 8, citing data from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) that provides forecasting and advisory services as part of the London-based The Economist Group.

Malaysia and Singapore have become the main investor destinations on the Belt and Road thanks to the healthy investment environment in those countries, the report said. Hong Kong, Malaysia and Australia ranked third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Although the developed economies still remain the most popular markets for Chinese investors, the situation has started to change. A similar survey shows that Malaysia's ranking leapfrogged from number 21 in 2015 to number four this year. Russia also jumped from number 17 to 11, and Kazakhstan from 49 to 13. Chinese enterprises' investment in Eurasian countries continued to increase since the introduction of the Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China's President Xi Jinping in 2013 to link countries and continents in a comprehensive economic and trade cooperation framework.

China's direct non-financial investment in the Belt and Road countries rose by 18.2 percent to USD14.8 billion in 2015. The figure slipped to USD14.5 billion in 2016, and by another 13.7 percent during the first nine months of this year. The downtrend is attributable to the central bank's tightened control on capital outflow, but it is only a temporary measure, data from China's ministry of Commerce suggest.