China's urban fixed-asset investment rose 25.6 percent year-on-year to 4.0264 trillion yuan (US$575.2 billion) in the first five months of 2008, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Tuesday.

The growth figure was 0.3 percentage points lower from the same period of last year, and 0.1 percentage points lower from the Jan-April period this year.

Investment in state-owned and state-controlled enterprises was 1.6397 trillion yuan, up 18.0 percent. Investment in the real estate sector grew 31.9 percent to 951.9 billion yuan, said the NBS.

Primary industry (farming, fishing, forestry and the like) continued to grow the fastest among industrial sectors, expanding 66.1 percent during the first five months. That compared with secondary and tertiary industries, whose investment rose 25.6 percent and 25.0 percent, respectively.

Investment by the central government expanded 18.5 percent year-on-year to 369.9 billion yuan and that by local governments was up 26.4 percent to 3.6566 trillion yuan.

The first five months saw the commencement of 84,368 projects, 9,667 more than in the same period last year. Planned investment in these new projects was 2.721 trillion yuan, down 2.5 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2008)