China
China to launch more stimulus investment in second quarter
"It's good to cash in pledged investment as early as possible, because the economy is under deeper downward pressure in the first half," said Li Huiyong, a Shenyin & Wanguo analyst.
The central government has made arrangements on nearly 40 percent -- 230 billion yuan out of 590 billion yuan -- of the first half of its promised two-year investment, at 1.18 trillion yuan.
"Early arrangement of such investment can leave room for new stimulus plans, if the two-year 4-trillion-yuan package does not work out very well," Li said.
Tuesday's report came after Premier Wen Jiabao said Thursday that the country would "soon" cash in the third batch of pledged central government investment as a means to further expand investment. He said the economy was doing "better than expected" thanks to government stimulus moves.
China's fixed asset investment picked up in the first quarter with an increase of 28.8 percent, which outperformed the annual rate of 25.5 percent last year.
Editor:Zhang Pengfei