BEIJING -- China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) invested 2.8 trillion yuan (about $404 billion) in fixed assets in 2019, up 7.6 percent, official data showed.

The growth rate was 2.7 percentage points higher than that of the previous year, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said.

Central SOEs in the petroleum and petrochemical industry improved the infrastructure in the production, supply, sale and storage of natural gas, and increased the investment in the exploration of oil and gas in 2019, registering a growth of 23.9 percent in fixed-asset investment.

During the period, the fixed-asset investment of central SOEs grew 77.3 percent in automobile makers and 46.5 percent in coal miners, the SASAC said.