China's outbound direct investment (ODI) soared 12.3 percent on a yearly basis to $153.71 billion in 2020, with the flow scale ranking the first in the world for the first time, according to a government statistical bulletin released on Wednesday.

The country's ODI stock amounted to $2.58 trillion and ranked third among the largest investors in the global market by the end of 2020, following the United States and the Netherlands with total ODI stocks of $8.13 trillion and $3.8 trillion, respectively, said the 2020 Statistical Bulletin of China's Outward Foreign Direct Investment.

The report, jointly released by the Ministry of Commerce, the National Bureau of Statistics and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, showed that China's influence in the world's investment market has continued to expand.

Its flows accounted for more than 10 percent of the world's total for five consecutive years, and reached 20.2 percent in the globe's total in 2020.

The nonfinancial ODI made by Chinese companies in countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative reached $17.79 billion in 2020, up 18.3 percent year-on-year.

The figure accounted for 16.2 percent of the country's total during the period, up 2.6 percentage points from a year earlier, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

Outbound investment mainly flowed to sectors including leasing and business services, as well as wholesale and retail industries, said the document.