China’s investment fell for the third straight month in November, official data showed, just days after President Xi Jinping called on officials to reverse a decline that threatens to undermine growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
Fixed asset investment for the year to date to November 30 declined 2.6 per cent on a year earlier, a steeper fall than the 2.3 per cent decline forecast by a Bloomberg survey of analysts and October’s fall of 1.7 per cent.
The decline is expected to drive calls from China’s top leadership to “stabilise” investment in an economy that for decades has relied heavily on state financing for growth, particularly in infrastructure and property as well as high-end manufacturing.