China fixed-asset investment approvals almost doubled in 2022 to 1.48t yuan
Selamat Sanwan
CHINA’S state planner approved fixed asset investment projects worth 1.48 trillion yuan (S$288.7 billion) in 2022, nearly double the value from the previous year, as authorities geared up to support the Covid-hit economy.
A total of 109 projects were approved last year and they were predominantly in the transportation, energy, water conservation and information technology industries, a spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday (Jan 18).
China has been stepping up spending on infrastructure projects to prop up economic growth, which slumped to one of its worst levels in nearly a century over 2022, with gross domestic product (GDP) expanding by just 3 per cent from a year earlier, badly missing the official target of “around 5.5 per cent” set at the beginning of last year.
As for 2023, the NDRC spokesperson remarked that the country’s economic recovery remained complicated, given that China must grapple with shrinking demand, supply-chain shocks and turbulence in the global economy.
China’s exports shrank sharply in December as global demand cooled, contracting 9.9 per cent, while imports fell by a more modest 7.5 per cent.
Economists anticipate that domestic demand will slowly recover in the coming months, “but for the first quarter, we will still see a bumpy transitional period (when) we actually might see contraction instead of growth”, Jing Liu, chief economist for Greater China at HSBC, told Reuters in a call following the release of the 2022 data on Tuesday.
HSBC forecast GDP growth of 5.8 per cent this year, she added.
The NDRC told reporters that it would take steps to grow the scale and scope of investment in the country over the coming months, particularly from foreign investors, which should be guided into the advanced manufacturing and services sectors, as well as pursuing developments in new technologies, energy conservation, and environmental protection.
Officials also addressed the country’s grain supply, commenting that the NDRC could ensure the safe supply of grain despite the challenges the market was facing. REUTERS
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