BEIJING — China's fixed-asset investment (FAI) declined 16.1 percent year-on-year to 8.41 trillion yuan (about $1.19 trillion) in the first quarter of 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on April 17.

The fall narrowed by 8.4 percentage points comparing with the decrease in the first two months.

The FAI in March went up 6.05 percent from February.

In breakdown, the FAI in the primary industry dropped 13.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, while that in the secondary and tertiary industries went down by 21.9 percent and 13.5 percent, respectively, according to the NBS.

The decline in the three industries narrowed by 11.8 percentage points, 6.3 percentage points and 9.5 percentage points, respectively in the first quarter comparing with the fall in the first two months.

Private investment decreased 18.8 percent to 4.78 trillion yuan during the period, and investment in high-tech industries dropped 12.1 percent in the first quarter, NBS data showed.

Investment in high-tech manufacturing and services fell 13.5 percent and 9 percent in the same period, respectively.

The FAI includes capital spent on infrastructure, property, machinery and other physical assets.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, approved 19 FAI projects with combined investment totaling 185.3 billion yuan in the first two months of the year.

The projects are mostly related to transportation and the new and high-tech industries, according to the commission.