Jan-Apr figure lower than Q1, same period last year
China's fixed-assets investment reached 12 trillion yuan ($1.93 trillion) from January to April this year, rising by 12 percent year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday.
The growth rate is 1.5 percentage points lower than that recorded in the first quarter and 5.3 percentage points lower than that registered in the first four months in 2014.
Ma Xiaohe, vice president at the Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the National Development and Reform Commission, said that the country's economy is in transition from the previous investment driven model to relying more on consumption, thus a decline in fixed-assets investment is inevitable.
"It is hard for investors to find areas to invest in since the country's traditional industrial sector is suffering from overcapacity," Ma told the Global Times Wednesday.
The property sector, a pillar industry in the economy, saw investment in the first four months grow 6 percent year-on-year to 2.37 trillion yuan, NBS data showed.
The increase was 2.5 percentage points lower than that in the first three months.
The property and industrial manufacturing sectors, which accounted for more than half of the total investment in the country, are both experiencing difficulties due to weak global and domestic demand, according to Ma, leading to the overall slowdown in the fixed-assets investment.
The private sector has shown great vitality in the first four months. Fixed-assets investment from the private sector grew to 7.84 trillion yuan in that period, accounting for 65.3 percent of the country's total, according to the NBS.
"As the private sector contributes a large part of overall investment, the central government will be more committed to encouraging private capital in the investment sector," Tan Ruyong, an expert at Shanghai Institute of International Finance Center, told the Global Times Wednesday.
Investment has been a major powerhouse component in the Chinese economy, which is facing great downward pressure now. China saw its GDP slow to 7 percent in the first quarter this year, a near six-year low.
But Ma noted that there will be a rebound in fixed-assets investment in the second half of this year as the government has launched many pro-growth measures to promote investment in sectors like rural road construction, intercity railway construction and other strategic emerging industries.
Besides measures to spur investment, Tan noted that promoting domestic consumption is more urgent in order to boost the economy.
The country's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 2.24 trillion yuan in April, up 10 percent from a year earlier.
The amount reached 9.31 trillion yuan in the first four months, up 10.4 percent year-on-year, with online retailing a highlight, according to data from the NBS on Wednesday.
