China's investment continues to improve

BEIJING -- China's fixed-asset investment, one of the main drivers of economic growth, will continue to improve in November amid the country's efforts to buoy the economy, according to results from the latest Xinhua survey.

The average forecast for the country's fixed-asset investment growth in the first 11 months was 20.8 percent, slightly higher than the 20.7-percent growth realized in the first 10 months, according to the survey conducted among financial institutions and economists.

The increase came as the government moved to speed up infrastructure construction over recent months. China Citic Securities said the increase in high-speed railway and urban rail projects offset the impacts of falling investments in the manufacturing and property sectors.

However, the Industrial Bank expects investment growth to slow in November, as recent snowy weather has affected outdoor projects.

Meanwhile, the average forecast for the year-on-year growth rate in retail sales, another key driver of economic growth, stood at 14.5 percent in November, unchanged from the rate recorded in October, the survey shows.

Inner Mongolia-based Rising Securities said retail sales growth will be unchanged from October to November because of a weaker auto sector, which was the major support for October's consumption growth.

The National Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release a string of economic indexes, including those for inflation, fixed-asset investment, retail sales and value-added output on Sunday.