China's private investment up 5.8 pct in first 10 months

BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's private fixed-asset investment recorded a slowdown in growth in the first 10 months of this year, but the overall investment structure has improved, official data showed Tuesday.

In the first 10 months, fixed-asset investment (FAI) by the private sector grew 5.8 percent year on year to 31.37 trillion yuan (about 4.73 trillion U.S. dollars), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

The growth rate was lower than the 6-percent increase for the first nine months, said the NBS.

The amount accounted for 60.6 percent of the total FAI, compared with 60.5 percent for the January-September period.

Private investment to the primary sector rose 15.6 percent in the 10-month period, followed by an increase of 7.7 percent for the service sector and 3.2 percent for the secondary sector.

Growth in the country's total FAI also slowed in this period, growing 7.3 percent year on year, down from 7.5 percent for the January-September period.

FAI includes capital spent on infrastructure, property, machinery and other physical assets, but the bureau's calculation does not include FAI by farmers.

Despite a growth slowdown, China has continued to see structural improvement within FAI, according to Liu Aihua, a spokesperson with the NBS.

Rapid investment growth was seen in fields like high-tech and infrastructure, registering 16.8 percent and 19.6 percent growth respectively, while investment in energy-intensive sectors went down 2.2 percent, she said.

For the private sector, FAI for water conservation, environmental protection and public facility management jumped 24.5 percent, while that in mining dropped 18.8 percent year on year in the first 10 months.

The private sector contributes more than 60 percent of China's GDP growth and provides over 80 percent of jobs.

To stimulate private investment activities, the government has taken moves like streamlining investment project approvals for private investors, encouraging them to participate in major projects and introducing mixed-ownership reform in state-owned enterprises.