A REBOUND in private investment in China “won’t be very far off” as supportive government policy measures take effect, an official from its top economic planner said Friday.

    Given China’s slower economic growth, weak exports, structural adjustments and rising costs, fluctuations in its private investment were normal, said Han Zhifeng, deputy head of the investment department of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

    “It’s hard to predict the exact timing because it depends on many factors, but I think it won’t be very far off,” Han said of a rebound, in a conversation with reporters in Beijing.

    The government has taken steps to boost private investment, including luring private firms into infrastructure projects via public-private partnerships (PPP) and measures to ensure private investors compete fairly with state firms.

    Private investment, which accounts for about 60 percent of overall investment in China, grew at 2.1 percent in July — the lowest on record, compared with 2.8 percent in the first half, as investors remain wary about the growth outlook amid painful reforms in the State-owned enterprise sector.

    Big-ticket infrastructure projects have been a policy focus this year to help cushion a slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy.

    Private investment in electricity and heat production and supply jumped 35.4 percent in the first seven months from a year earlier. It rose 16.7 percent in education and 17.2 percent in the health sector, but investment in the coal sector dropped.

    That underscored structural changes in the private sectors as companies in traditional industries are struggling while those in new sectors still shrive, Fan said.

    Song Qiuling, a finance ministry official, told reporters private firms would benefit from tax cuts and another ministry official said the government aimed to issue rules on PPP to help shore up private investment in infrastructure.(SD-Agencies)