Economic Watch: China’s fixed-asset investment maintains stable growth in 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China’s fixed-asset investment saw a steady expansion in 2022, offering solid support to shore up the overall economy, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Tuesday.

Last year, fixed-asset investment rose 5.1 percent year on year to over 57.21 trillion yuan (about 8.51 trillion U.S. dollars), according to the NBS.

The growth rate increased 0.2 percentage points from 2021.

In December alone, fixed-asset investment increased 0.49 percent month on month.

"The growth of China’s fixed-asset investment maintained general stability in 2022," NBS head Kang Yi said when commenting on the data, highlighting the role of investment in ensuring economic stability last year.

The contribution of capital formation -- another measure for investment -- to economic growth reached 50.1 percent in 2022, the NBS data showed.

Specifically, investment in manufacturing logged a relatively rapid increase of 9.1 percent in 2022, 4 percentage points higher than the country’s overall investment growth.

Investment in infrastructure continued its growth momentum last year, climbing 9.4 percent from a year earlier.

High-tech industries boosted investment significantly in 2022, with investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services surging 22.2 percent and 12.1 percent year on year, respectively.

More financial support was given to the improvement of people’s livelihoods, as investment in health and social work jumped 26.1 percent year on year, up 6.6 percentage points from 2021.

A slew of supportive measures helped ensure stable investment growth in 2022, including the promotion of the construction of major projects, the accelerated issuance of special-purpose local government bonds, and the utilization of policy-backed and development-oriented financial instruments, according to Kang.

Investment in property development, however, fell 10 percent year on year, dragging down the growth of both overall fixed-asset investment and investment from the private sector, Kang said.

"The drag on the overall economy from the property market will not be greater in 2023 than in 2022," Kang said, citing narrowing declines in multiple housing-related indicators in December thanks to a string of supportive policies.

Looking ahead, Kang expects China’s fixed-asset investment to continue growing in 2023, given the country’s high potential and space for investment.

Infrastructure investment is expected to see continuous growth as China has stepped up efforts to upgrade traditional facilities and build new ones, such as 5G base stations and big data centers.

Investment may also be bolstered further by new growth drivers, with high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services maintaining sound growth momentum in recent years