Foreign direct investment in Shanghai this year may surpass the amount last year to reach a record high, said a senior government official Thursday.

"Despite the influence of the global financial crisis, FDI in Shanghai has grown relatively stable this year," said Sha Hailin, chairman of the Shanghai Commission of Commerce, at a ceremony to award certificates to multinational companies which locate their regional headquarters here.

Shanghai attracted US$9.62 billion FDI in the first 11 months, a rise of 3.3 percent from a year earlier, and this year's total is very likely to eclipse US$10.08 billion last year, Sha said.

In January, Shanghai launched wz.investment.gov.cn, a Website to provide online services for foreign investors. It helped to reduce the average time for project application to 5.1 days from eight days.

Also, the commission allowed district- and county-level governments to examine and approve foreign investment of no more than US$100 million, up from US$30 million, to facilitate the procedure for investors.

Yesterday, 18 multinational companies, including several Fortune 500 firms such as Tesco and Dow Chemical, were granted certificates for relocating their regional headquarters to Shanghai. There are now 751 companies which have made Shanghai their regional headquarters.

Shanghai's fixed-asset investment in the first 11 months increased 14.2 percent from a year ago to 485.9 billion yuan (US$71.1 billion), accelerating from the 13.9-percent climb through October, according to official data yesterday.