China's fixed-asset investment up 5.3% in first 8 months

BEIJING - China's fixed-asset investment (FAI) rose 5.3 percent in the first eight months of the year, slightly down from 5.5 percent for January-July, data showed Friday.

On a monthly basis, FAI edged up 0.44 percent from July, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

FAI growth has been declining since the beginning of this year.

Despite the slower FAI growth, NBS spokesperson Mao Shengyong said the structure of investment continued to improve.

In breakdown, FAI in high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing jumped 12.9 percent and 9.2 percent respectively during the period.

Private investment, which accounts for more than 60 percent of total FAI, rose at a faster pace than the overall growth. It expanded 8.7 percent year-on-year in the first eight months, compared with 8.8 percent in the first seven months.

The growth of infrastructure investment continued to slow, albeit more modestly. Infrastructure investment increased 4.2 percent in the first eight months, down from 5.7 percent for January-July.

Mao expected the FAI growth to stabilize in the coming months as the government's policies to boost infrastructure investment will gradually come through, while property investment and manufacturing investment maintain stable increases.

He said the government will increase investment in sectors of infrastructure and public services in the country's comparatively less-developed central and western regions.

Property development investment climbed 10.1 percent year-on-year for January-August, down from 10.2 percent during the first seven months but up from an increase of 7.9 percent during the same period in 2017.