China boosts railway-cost target for second time

China increased its planned 2012 spending on railway infrastructure for the second time this month as the government invests more to bolster its slowest economic growth in three years.

The Ministry of Railways, the nation's largest corporate debt issuer, plans to spend 470 billion yuan ($74 billion) on railroads and bridges this year, according to a bond prospectus on Monday. That's 4.8 percent higher than a ministry figure cited in a July 6 statement by the Anhui provincial economic planning agency, which indicated a 9 percent increase from the previous figure.

The new target exceeds last year's 461 billion yuan in spending and follows Premier Wen Jiabao's July 10 comments that promoting investment growth is essential to stabilizing an expansion that decelerated to 7.6 percent in the last quarter.

Agencies - China Daily