Increased government investment through issuing treasury bonds had resulted in adding more than two percentage points to China's economic growth last year, a senior government official said in Beijing on January 4.

China saw an economic growth rate of 7.1 percent for the year 1999.

Zeng Peiyan, minister in charge of the State Development Planning Commission, told a press conference held by the State Council's Information Office this morning that the Chinese government channeled 200 billion yuan (24 billion US dollars) to investment projects by issuing additional treasury bonds in 1999.

The Chinese government also issued additional 60 billion yuan worth of treasury bonds on top of the scheduled issuance of 50- billion-yuan T-bonds last year.

Zeng said that in combination with bank loans and investment of local governments, the money from issuing T-bonds had helped reverse the downward trend of investment in infrastructure and technological upgrading.

This was the second consecutive year that China has adopted an active fiscal policy to stimulate demand and economic growth. The Chinese government issued 100 billion yuan worth of additional T- bonds to fund infrastructure construction in 1998, boosting economic growth by 1.5 percentage points. (Xinhua)