Fixed-asset investment continues rising
By Sun Min (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-16 09:04
Fixed-asset investment in urban areas maintained its rapid growth in the
first five months of this year, rising 30.3 per cent year-on-year to 2.54
trillion yuan (US$317.5 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)
revealed yesterday.
That compares to a 29.6 per cent increase in the
first four months.
The higher growth rate has once again caused concern
among officials, who worry about an overheating economy.
In a State
Council meeting on Wednesday, it was noted that excessive growth of fixed-asset
investment and lending was a major problem.
The government aims to
strictly control the scale of urban construction and the number of new projects
in real estate and other sectors with excessive capacity.
In the latest
meeting relating to bank loans on Tuesday, the central bank urged domestic
lenders to rein in lending to sectors with over-investment and improve their
loan structure.
Banks are also being asked to enhance risk control
capacity and control medium- and long-term loans.
The central bank raised
the benchmark lending rate by 0.27 of a percentage point in April.
But
because the investment growth rate is up again, it is only normal for the
authorities to think of more tightening measures, said Zhang Liqun, a senior
researcher with the State Council Development Research Centre, a government
think-tank.
"The intention is pretty obvious," he said. "The authorities
will take action to control the number and scale of new investment
projects."
He said this would be done through means such as a higher
threshold for market entry, environmental protection standards and economic
efficiency measures.
As usual, credit and land control measures will be
used to curb investment, he said.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
|
