From Bloomberg News (link)
China’s government said a surge in investment that propelled first-quarter economic expansion of 10.2 percent needs “attention” and signaled it will curb lending in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
Fixed-asset investment in urban areas rose 29.8 percent in the quarter from a year earlier, statistics bureau spokesman Zheng Jingping told a press conference in Beijing today. He said the government will tighten control over lending and the use of land for investment, describing them as “prominent problems that call for our attention.”
President Hu Jintao, meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush today, is seeking to limit spending on factories that has led to an oversupply of goods in China and pushed global commodities prices to records. The government wants consumer spending to sustain growth in the world’s biggest market for steel and the second-largest oil user.
