China's Spending on Construction, Other Fixed Assets Up 26.5 Percent in April
The Associated Press
Published: May 19, 2005
SHANGHAI, China (AP) - China's investment in construction, factory equipment and other fixed assets grew 26.5 percent in April from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.
Fixed asset investment is considered a key barometer of nationwide spending. Officials have warned repeatedly against excessive growth in spending on property development and other infrastructure, as well as redundant factory capacity, which they say could fuel inflation and cause financial problems.
The figure was slightly higher than the 26 percent year-on-year growth in fixed asset investment for March.
Growth in urban fixed asset spending was 25.7 percent on-year in the first four months of the year, a slightly faster pace than the 22.8 percent rise in the January-March period, the statistics bureau said.
Total urban fixed asset investment for January to April was 1.4 trillion yuan ($169.5 billion), the report said.
Although growth figures in recent months have remained above the government's target of 20 percent, inflation has moderated - easing fears that prices could spiral dangerously high.
The consumer price index, China's main indicator for inflation, rose a much lower-than-expected 1.8 percent in April, the slowest increase in 19 months. Inflation peaked at 5.3 percent in August.
Meanwhile, growth in industrial output has remained strong, rising 16 percent in April from a year earlier, the government reported Wednesday.
The faster-than-expected rise in fixed-asset spending suggests government measures to slow the economy are not yet making much of a dent and that economic growth may again overshoot the official target of about 8 percent for 2005.
China's economy grew at a sizzling 9.5 percent pace in both 2003 and 2004 and continued to expand at the same pace in the first quarter of this year.
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