More than 1-trillion-yuan-worth of infrastructure spending was approved in China during a two-day span this week, efforts to spur the globe's second largest economy, according to state media
cited by Agence France Presse.
But The Wall Street Journal
reports the yuan fell slightly against the world's reserve currency on Friday.
The betterment of subway lines and highways were among the 55 projects cited by the National Development and Reform Commission this week. But 1 trillion in yuan, equal to roughly $158 billion, is a conservative assessment, according to The China Securities Journal. The economy of the Asian nation, which trails only that of the U.S., has endured rough patches this year.
"Apart from the large sizes of the projects, the announcements for these new projects were all made in two days, which is very intense," economist Zhang Zhiwei with Nomura in Hong Kong
told Reuters. "It signals a change in policy stance, which is now much more proactive."
Analysts told Reuters that the effort drives toward spurring the economy in time for the fourth quarter of the year and as the nation makes its leadership change, which comes once every 10 years.
The 1 trillion yuan projects is one-quarter the size of China's stimulus package from 2008, when the Great Recession first dawned.
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