BEIJING — China's fixed-asset investment (FAI) expanded steadily in 2019 with investment in high-tech industries leading the growth, official data showed on Jan 17.

The FAI increased 5.4 percent year-on-year to 55.15 trillion yuan ($8.02 trillion) last year, 0.2 percentage points higher than the level recorded in the first 11 months, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Jan 17.

In December alone, the FAI went up 0.44 percent from November.

Investment in high-tech industries registered an outstanding growth of 17.3 percent year-on-year in 2019, with the FAI in high-tech manufacturing and service sectors up 17.7 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively.

Private investment grew 4.7 percent to 31.12 trillion yuan last year.

The steady investment increase came along with the expansion of the national economy. China's gross domestic product in 2019 grew 6.1 percent to 99.09 trillion yuan, within the government's annual target of 6 percent to 6.5 percent, according to the NBS.

Gross capital formation, another measure for investment, contributed 31.2 percent of China's economic growth last year, said Ning Jizhe, head of the NBS.

In breakdown, the FAI in the primary industry gained 0.6 percent last year, compared with a 0.1-percent decrease in the first 11 months. The FAI in the secondary industry went up by 3.2 percent, while that in the tertiary industry expanded 6.5 percent in 2019.