BEIJING — China’s fixed-asset investment (FAI) grew 6.1 percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2019, 0.2 percentage points higher than that recorded in 2018, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on March 14.

NBS spokesperson Mao Shengyong said domestic demand maintained steady growth in the first two months of this year, given stable FAI and consumption expansion.

The FAI growth continued the upward trend since last September, the NBS data showed.

The 6.1-percent growth was also in line with market expectations, Japanese securities brokerage Nomura said in a report.

China’s retail sales of consumer goods rose 8.2 percent year-on-year in the first two months, flat with that in December, data from the NBS showed.

Mao also said China saw improving economic structure during the period.

Private investment posted fast growth, rising 7.5 percent year-on-year to about 2.7 trillion yuan ($402.3 billion), the NBS data showed.

The growth of investment in the tertiary industry and industrial technology improvement sped up or maintained a fast increase, said the spokesperson.

The investment in the tertiary industry expanded 6.5 percent in the past two months, picking up the pace from the 5.5-percent increase in 2018.

Meanwhile, the investment in high-tech industries and industrial technology improvement jumped 8.6 percent and 19.5 percent year-on-year, both faster than the overall FAI growth.

The data on March 14 also showed that investment in infrastructure went up 4.3 percent year-on-year, quickening from the 3.8-percent growth in 2018.

The investment in the primary industry and secondary industry grew 3.7 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively.