BEIJING, May 15, 2009 (AFP) - Foreign direct investment in China dropped 22.5 percent year-on-year in April for the seventh straight monthly fall, the commerce ministry said Friday.

China attracted a total of 5.89 billion dollars of foreign investment last month, the ministry's spokesman Yao Jian told reporters.

The decline compared with a fall of 9.5 percent in March from the same month in 2008, according to previously released statistics.

Foreign direct investment in the first four months was down 21 percent over the same period last year to 27.67 billion dollars, the spokesman said.