China's urban fixed assets investment up 26.4 percent in first five months

Urban fixed assets investment, a major engine driving China's economy, grew 26.4 percent in the first five months of the year, hitting 1.97 trillion yuan (237.9 billion US dollars), the official data show.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Thursday the increase was slightly up from the 25.7 percent growth registered in the first four months of the year.

Investment in property development grew by 24.3 percent during the period to 464.4 billion yuan (56.1 billion dollars).

Fixed assets investment by state-owned and state-controlled companies was only up 7.8 percent from January to May, reaching 997.9 billion yuan (120.5 billion dollars), the NBS said.

China has adopted a slew of market-oriented and administrative measures to curb the excessive growth of investment in some industries since last year. The central government has targeted investment growth at 16 percent for 2005.

Source: Xinhua