URUMQI, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region's investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) increased by 5.2 percent year on year in the first quarter, the regional bureau of statistics said Thursday.

The growth was 21.3 percentage points higher than the national average of 16.1 percent contraction in the three-month period.

Investment in Xinjiang's primary industry surged by 18.5 percent during the quarter, 15.9 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year. The region's secondary and tertiary industries saw investment in Q1 rise 8.9 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, both faster than Q1 of 2019.

This contributed much to the region's overall economic performance during the quarter. Xinjiang saw a slight decrease of 0.2 percent in its regional gross domestic product in the first quarter to 305.6 billion yuan (about 43.2 billion U.S. dollars) compared with the same period last year.

Xinjiang's industrial production also maintained growth momentum during the quarter, with electric and thermal power production, coal mining and washing all increasing by over 20 percent year on year, the bureau said.