BEIJING: Investment in China is picking up while the trade surplus is declining, data showed yesterday, suggesting the world’s fourth largest economy may be increasingly relying on itself for growth momentum.
The country’s urban fixed-asset investment — spending on productive capacity in the cities — rose 27.3 percent in the first seven months of 2008 compared with a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
Based on previous figures from the bureau, it would seem that fixed-asset investment increased by about 30 percent in July from the same month a year earlier. “Urban fixed-asset investment has maintained a growth level of about 25 percent every month,” the statement said. “That’s an important accomplishment.”
By contrast, recent data showed China’s trade surplus declined 9.6 percent in the January-July period from the same period last year, confirming the impact of the US-led global economic slowdown.
China’s exporters have also seen their competitiveness eroded somewhat by the rise in the local currency, the yuan, against the US dollar over the past three years, analysts said.