China's urban fixed-asset investment in the first four months rose 30.5 percent year on year to 3.71 trillion yuan (US$543.2 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics announced Tuesday.

The growth rate was 1.9 percentage points higher than in the first quarter.

The growth rate in the primary sector (farming, fishing, forestry and the like) remained the highest, up by 82.1 percent to 58.3 billion yuan in the first four months. The secondary sector saw investment rise by 27.8 percent to 1.6 trillion yuan and the tertiary sector by 31.6 percent to 2.05 trillion yuan.

Investment in real estate rose 4.9 percent to 729 billion yuan. The growth rate was 0.8 percentage points higher than the first quarter, the NBS said.

From January to April, China carried out 86,420 new projects, up 45 percent from a year earlier, with total investment surging 90.7 percent to 3.68 trillion yuan.

The surge in fixed-asset investment was driven by the 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package and expanding bank credit, analysts said. New credit extended in the first quarter stood at a record 4.58 trillion yuan, but new lending cooled in April to 591.8 billion yuan.

Central government project investment rose 29.3 percent to 346.6 billion yuan from January to April, with similar investment by local governments up 30.6 percent to 3.36 trillion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2009)