BEIJING - China's fixed-asset investment continued to cool in 2016, growing 8.1 percent year-on-year, down from 10 percent in 2015 and 15.7 percent in 2014, official data showed Friday.

The reading was slightly down from the 8.2 percent growth for the first three quarters, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

This is the latest step in the continued deceleration of growth in fixed-asset investment: money used to purchase and build factories, machines, property and other fixed facilities.

The figure was among economic data released by the NBS which also showed annual growth of the world's second largest economy had slowed to 6.7 percent for the year, down from 6.9 percent in 2015.

Investment slowdown is believed to be one of the main reasons behind the weakness in demand and the downside pressure on the Chinese economy.

Fixed-asset investment growth has been declining since reaching an annual high of 10.7 percent for Jan-March.

In the agricultural sector, fixed-asset investment jumped the fastest, up 21.1 percent year-on-year. It was followed by 10.9 percent growth for the service sector and 3.5 percent for the industrial sector, the NBS data showed.