data from the national bureau of statistics show that in the first half of this year, the national fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) was 24,311.3 billion yuan, up by 3.8% year-on-year; after deducting the impact of price factors, the year-on-year growth was 6.5%.
experts said that in the next stage, we should continue to play the role of government investment and policy incentives and guidance, effectively stimulate private investment, continue to optimize the investment structure, improve investment efficiency, and promote high-quality economic development.
the contribution to economic growth is still relatively large
in the first half of this year, all regions and departments actively promoted the construction of major infrastructure such as transportation and water conservancy, and the results continued to show. investment in infrastructure increased by 7.2% year on year, of which the investment in railway transportation and water conservancy management increased by 20.5% and 9.6% respectively.
in the first half of the year, the investment in projects with a planned total investment of 100 million yuan and above increased by 10.9% year-on-year, 0.2 percentage points faster than the previous five months, and 7.1 percentage points higher than the growth of all investment; the contribution rate to total investment growth increased by 10 percentage points over the previous five months.
wang jun, chief economist of huatai asset and director of the china chief economists forum, said that in view of the high base of the same period last year, the support for infrastructure investment through the issuance of local government special bonds and the special infrastructure investment fund of policy banks has weakened, and the year-on-year growth of infrastructure investment has slowed down. under the combined effect of continuous improvement in demand, improved profits, and the expected index of enterprise production and operation activities continued to be in the boom range, manufacturing investment maintained rapid growth. however, it should be noted that the growth rate of private investment has continuously slipped into negative growth, significantly slower than the growth rate of fixed asset investment in the whole society, and far lower than the growth rate before the epidemic.
liu lifeng, a researcher at the investment research institute of the chinese academy of macroeconomic research, said that although investment growth has slowed down in the first half of the year, investment still contributes a lot to economic growth and has a strong supporting role.
judging from recent announcements around the country, the accelerated construction of major projects has provided strong support for expanding domestic demand, stabilizing growth, and improving people's lives. in the first half of the year, key projects in chongqing completed a total investment of 241.1 billion yuan, an increase of 17.3%, accounting for 54.7% of the annual investment plan, exceeding the target of "more than half of the time and more than half of the task"; 643 provincial key projects in shaanxi have completed an investment of more than 270 billion yuan, with an annual investment completion rate of more than 57%, and more than 80% of 245 newly started projects have been started, and the completion rate and start-up rate of key projects are faster than the schedule.
the pace of structural improvement has accelerated
"while investment growth has slowed down, investment in high-end, intelligent and green transformation has strong momentum." liu lifeng said.
investment in new infrastructure is growing steadily. in the first half of this year, the investment in new infrastructure construction increased by 16.2% year-on-year, of which the investment in new information infrastructure such as 5g and data centers increased by 13.1%, and the investment in new integrated infrastructure such as industrial internet and smart transportation increased by 34.1%.
the upgrading of the manufacturing industry has shown obvious momentum. in the first half of the year, investment in the manufacturing industry increased by 6% year-on-year, of which investment in the equipment manufacturing industry increased by 14.4%, which played an obvious supporting role. investment in new energy vehicles, lithium battery manufacturing and other related industries maintained rapid growth, and investment in automobile manufacturing, electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing increased by 20% and 38.9%, respectively.
innovation investment is growing well. in the first half of the year, investment in high-tech industries increased by 12.5% year-on-year, significantly faster than the growth of total investment. the expanding demand for enterprise technology services has led to increasing investment in related industries. in the first half of this year, investment in professional and technological services and services for transforming scientific and technological achievements increased by 51.6 percent and 46.3 percent, respectively.
investment in emerging sectors increased. with the continuous deepening of industrial digital transformation, related investment has maintained rapid growth. in the first half of the year, investment in electronic and communication equipment manufacturing and e-commerce services increased by 14.2% and 22.2%, respectively. investment in clean power increased by 40.5% year on year, of which investment in solar power increased by 84.4% and investment in wind power increased by 16%.
"looking ahead to the second half of the year, the overall direction of high-quality development of the chinese economy has not changed, and the sound momentum of vigorous development of the new economy and new drivers with new industries, new forms of business and new models as the core content has not changed. we must be patient and confident about the future." wang jun said.
better play the key role of investment
"to make new breakthroughs in high-quality economic development and make new progress in building a new development pattern, investment is still the most reliable starting point." liu lifeng believes that giving full play to the key role of investment is conducive to improving the quality and efficiency of the supply system, expanding demand, and promoting a sustained overall improvement in economic operation.
liu lifeng suggested that the focus should be selected to play the key role of investment. to meet the needs of the implementation of major regional strategies and coordinated regional development strategies, we should build a comprehensive infrastructure channel system that is highly integrated with the pattern of territorial and spatial development. strengthen domestic exploration and development of important energy and mineral resources, increase storage and production, and improve the supply and security capacity of strategic resources; in areas with high risk of chain breakage, we will improve capacity backup and diversified supply schemes to enhance the resilience of industrial chains and supply chains. we will promote the safe and resilient development of critical infrastructure, strengthen the construction of comprehensive facilities for disaster prevention and reduction, and effectively respond to possible risks and challenges.
zhang yongjun, deputy chief economist of the china center for international economic exchanges, believes that china still has a lot of room for investment in infrastructure and manufacturing. for example, the transformation of rural water supply and drainage, power supply, road network system, the transformation of old urban communities, the construction of supporting facilities such as elderly care and young people in new communities, the digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises, industrial reinforcement board and forging long board, and the transformation and upgrading of technical equipment need to continue to expand investment. in addition, since the beginning of this year, the demand for the service industry, especially contact and aggregation services, has grown rapidly, and more attention should be paid to and greater support should be given to investment in the service industry.
wang jun suggested that in the short term, the pace of local special bond issuance should be accelerated, and quasi-financial instruments such as policy-oriented development financial instruments should continue to play a role in supplementing the capital of major projects (no more than 50% of the capital) or bridging the capital of special bond projects. we will continue to take effective measures to stabilize the real estate market and real estate investment as soon as possible.
in terms of stabilizing private investment, the "opinions of the cpc central committee and the state council on promoting the development and growth of the private economy" clearly states that private enterprises are supported to participate in comprehensively strengthening infrastructure construction, and private capital is guided to participate in major projects such as new urbanization, transportation and water conservancy, and the construction of areas that make up for weaknesses. previously, the national development and reform commission and seven banks established a pilot cooperation mechanism for linking investment and lending to help promote private investment and expand effective investment.
"we should encourage and promote private investment to continue to expand the proportion of investment in the manufacturing industry, and help chinese-style modernization and high-quality development; at the critical moment of supporting the steady and healthy development of the real estate market, we will increase policy efforts to guide real estate investment to stabilize and promote the recovery of internal economic momentum." pang ming, chief economist and research director of jones lang lasalle greater china, believes that we should continue to take stable investment as the main starting point, consider financial resources comprehensively, give full play to the guiding role of government investment, encourage and attract more private capital participation, and expand effective social demand.
liu lifeng said that the investment and financing environment should be continuously optimized, the legal system supporting the private economy should be improved, and a unified, fair, open and transparent market environment should be created in terms of market access, approval and licensing, bidding and bidding. we will remove all market barriers and promote the orderly and free flow of factors of production across regions. we will steadily promote institutional openness in rules, regulations, management and standards. we will improve the investment and financing mechanisms for projects and smooth the channels for financing them. we will promote the healthy development of real estate investment trusts in the infrastructure sector in an orderly manner, revitalize existing assets through various means, and form a virtuous cycle of existing assets and new investment.
source: chinese government website