China's fixed-asset investment up 5.1 pct in Q1

BEIJING, April 18 (Xinhua) -- China's fixed-asset investment went up 5.1 percent year on year in the first quarter of this year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Tuesday.

The investment totaled about 10.73 trillion yuan (about 1.56 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first three months, the bureau said in a statement.

In the January-March period, investment in infrastructure construction increased 8.8 percent from the same period a year earlier, and manufacturing investment saw a 7 percent expansion. However, capital inflows in property development fell 5.8 percent year on year.

Fixed-asset investment from the private sector rose 0.6 percent year on year during the same period.

High-tech industries continued to show sound growth momentum, with investment jumping 16 percent year on year. Specifically, investment into high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services sectors expanded by 15.2 percent and 17.8 percent year on year, respectively.

More financial support was given to improving people's livelihoods, as the investment in public health and education rose by 21.6 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.