BEIJING — China’s fixed asset investment rose 12 percent from a year earlier to 12 trillion yuan ($1.96 trillion) in the first four months of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on May 13.

The increase slowed from the 13.5 percent level registered in the January-March period.

In the first four months, fixed asset investment in primary industries rose 26.4 percent year on year to 271.2 billion yuan, which is 6.4 percentage points lower than that recorded in the first three months.

Fixed asset investment in secondary industries increased 9.9 percent year on year to 4.85 trillion yuan, 1.2 percentage points lower than in the first three months.

Fixed asset investment in tertiary industries grew 20.4 percent year on year to 2.03 trillion yuan, 1.5 percentage points lower than the first three months.

Regarding China’s regions: fixed-asset investment in central regions witnessed the fastest growth of 15.5 percent during the first four months of the year from the previous year, to 3.22 trillion yuan. Investment in the eastern regions grew 10.9 percent year on year to 5.96 trillion yuan, and investment in the western regions grew 10.2 percent year on year to 2.73 trillion yuan.

Fixed asset investment by mainland businesses climbed 12.3 percent year on year to 11.36 trillion yuan, which is 1.5 percentage points lower than the first three months.

Fixed-asset investment by foreign businesses increased 2.5 percent year on year to 292.5 billion yuan, while investment by businesses from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan rose 11.1 percent to 310.2 billion yuan, the NBS said.