Article From Marketrealist.com
By Lynn Noah | May 20, 2016 10:24 am EDT
China’s fixed-asset investment fell
According to the NBS (National Bureau of Statistics), China’s urban fixed-asset investment grew by 10.5% YoY (year-over-year) to 13,259.2 billion yuan in the first four months of 2016. This was lower than the growth of 10.7% from January to March 2016. In April, the investment in urban fixed assets increased 0.72% on a month-over-month basis. The decline in investments in the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors led to lower growth in fixed-asset investment in April.
Fixed-asset investment is considered a key driver of economic growth, and data indicate that the continued decline in fixed-asset investment is due to a slowdown in demand. As a result, investments in factories, machinery, property, and other fixed assets have declined considerably YoY.
According to a statement from the NBS, “Due to weak market demand, companies’ reluctance to invest and market entrance barriers, China’s private fixed-asset investment has been decelerating since the start of this year. This will hurt the steady growth of investment and it deserves a lot of attention.”