BEIJING: China's $410-billion sovereign wealth fund has received a $50 billion capital injection from the central bank, state media said Friday, as the Asian powerhouse ramps up investment overseas.

China Investment Corporation (CIC) was set up in 2007 to invest some of the country's world-beating foreign exchange reserves to get better returns.

The sovereign wealth fund received the money from the People's Bank of China after the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday in January, financial news website Caixin said, citing unidentified sources.

The capital injection increases the value of CIC's assets to $460 billion, based on the latest available figures.

AFP calls to the wealth fund went unanswered and a spokesman for the central bank declined to comment.

The capital injection comes as China's companies and funds increase investment overseas, especially in debt-laden European economies and resource-rich Latin America, as growing competition at home forces them abroad.