(Yicai Global) April 17 -- China's fixed asset investment was down 16.1 percent in the first three months to CNY8.41 trillion (USD1.2 trillion), hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, data published today by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics show.

This figure is a great improvement on that of the first two months, though, when it was down 24.5 percent.

An Yicai Global survey of 24 chief economists at major Chinese financial institutions found they predicted, on average, that first-quarter fixed asset investment would rebound to down only 15.2 percent.

Editor: Ben Armour