INCREASED infrastructure investment is key to stabilizing China’s economic growth, a top State advisor said yesterday while calling on the central bank to lower the cost of financing for firms and increase overall credit.

    “Keeping relatively high growth of infrastructure investment is key to stabilizing economic growth” since property and manufacturing investment remains weak, said Yu Bin, head of the micro economy research department at the State Council’s Development Research Center.

    China needs to speed up its 172 hydropower projects, develop 800 million mu (53 million hectares) of high-standard agricultural land and increase investment in rural roads, Yu said.

    Yu’s comments come a day before the government is due to release third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth figures, and were published in the Economic Daily yesterday.

    (SD-Agencies)