Fixed-asset investment jumps 40% in May

Urban fixed-asset investment rose sharply in May thanks to Beijing’s stimulus and a recovery in the property sector, the South China Morning Post reported. New data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed urban area investment in fixed assets such as apartment buildings and roads grew 32.9% in the first five months from a year earlier, compared with a 30.5% rise in the first four months. Economists said the figures indicated a 40% rise in urban fixed-asset in May, and that adjusting for inflation made the increase even greater due to falling prices across the country. The rise was helped by a 110.9% increase in investment in railways, and investment growth of 6.8% in real estate – which accounts for nearly a quarter of fixed investment – in the first five months of the year.