SteelOrbis Shanghai
According to the latest data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics, the country's urban fixed assets investment totaled RMB 3.2045 trillion ($420.5 billion) for the first five months of this year, up 25.9 percent compared with the same period last year. This growth was 0.4 of a percentage point higher than that for the first four months of 2007.
Broken down into the various industrial sectors, for the Jan-May 2007 period investment in coal mining and dressing increased 13.5 percent to RMB 35.8 billion ($4.7 billion); power supply industry investment increased 11.3 percent to RMB 236.8 billion ($31.1 billion); oil and gas exploration investment rose 23.3 percent to RMB 54 billion ($7.1 billion); investment in railway transportation went up 11.4 percent to RMB 53 billion ($7 billion); investment in non-metal minerals mining and processing increased 52.6 percent to RMB 81 billion ($10.6 billion); investment in ferrous metals mining and processing saw a rise of 4.6 percent to RMB 89.5 billion ($11.7 billion); and finally, investment in non-ferrous metals mining and processing increased 40.7 percent to RMB 46.5 billion ($6.1 billion).
The continuous and rapid growth in China's fixed assets investment has already attracted much attention from China's central government. On June 13, the State Council held a meeting concerning the current economic situation, putting forward that several kinds of macrocontrol measures should be adopted in order to curb the overheated economy. According to some market players, the relevant policies will soon be issued, with increases in the deposit reserve and interest rates thought possible.