China's fixed asset investment rises 28.8% in Q1

BEIJING, April 16 -- China's fixed asset investment

in the first quarter rose 28.8 percent year on year to 2.81 trillion yuan (411.4

billion U.S. dollars), the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

The growth rate was 4.2 percentage points higher than

the year before.

Urban fixed asset investment stood at 2.36 trillion

yuan in the first quarter, up 28.6 percent year on year, or 2.7 percentage

points higher. The growth in March was 30.3 percent.

Fixed asset investment in rural areas was up 29.4

percent to 456.7 billion yuan, or 11.1 percentage points higher year on year.

The growth rate in the primary sector - that's

farming, fishing, forestry and the like - remained the highest of all three

sectors, up by 85 percent.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from

Beijing (XHTV)