China’s outbound direct investment (ODI) into Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries continues to increase, expanding 13.8% year-on-year in the first five months of 2021, according to a report in RT. The total of $7.43 billion is almost completely in the manufacturing area ($7.2 billion). Beyond that, investment by China’s local enterprises is up 3.8%, totalling $32.75 billion, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. With expanding connectivity, the investments are, minimally, expected to cut trading costs in half.