Investment growth still high

Fixed asset investment rose 27.7% year-on-year during the first three months of 2006, state media reported, citing an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). This news of increased spending in areas such as construction and factory equipment closely follows President Hu Jintao's announcement that the economy expanded 10.2% in the first quarter, two percentage points above the official target. "The economy is a bit overheated," Xu Shanchang, deputy director of economic reform at the NDRC, was quoted as saying. He blamed banks for lending to large companies at the expense of small and medium-sized enterprises. Fixed asset investment rose 25.7% during the whole of 2005, a decline on the 26.6% growth rate seen in 2004.