China continued to see steady growth in fixed-asset investment (FAI), boosted by robust high-tech investment and improving trend in some weak areas, official data showed Monday. The FAI grew 5.2 percent year on year in the first 11 months of 2019, flat with the rate during the January-October period, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). In the first 11 months, the FAI amounted to 53.37 trillion yuan (about 7.63 trillion U.S. dollars). On a month-on-month basis, FAI rose 0.42 percent. Investment by the state sector went up 6.9 percent during the period, while private-sector investment increased 4.5 percent, 0.1 percentage points higher than that in the first 10 months. Investment in high-tech manufacturing and services surged 14.8 percent and 13.1 percent year on year, respectively. "Investment has maintained steady growth, with that in some weak areas posting relatively fast growth," the NBS said in a statement. Investment in the primary industry edged down 0.1 percent, while that in the secondary and tertiary industries rose 2.4 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively. Investment in social undertakings, including education, culture and sports gained 12.6 percent, while that in environmental protection jumped 36.3 percent. The FAI includes capital spent on infrastructure, property, machinery and other physical assets. The figures are among a series of indicators released by the NBS, including industrial production and retail sales, which show that the economy remains on a stable track. |