China to expand effective investment in 2015: NDRC

BEIJING - China's top economic planner said on Wednesday that it would increase efforts to manage effective investment this year, in a bid to help stabilize economic growth.

"In concerted efforts with other government departments, the National Development and Reform Commission, will actively adapt to the new normal of economic growth and step up the management and regulation of investment this year," the NDRC said in a statement on its website.

Targeted macro-regulation will be used to expand effective investments,improve their profitability, strengthen certain vulnerable areas in economic and social development, and give investment a "key role to play in stabilizing the economic growth", it noted.

Social capital -- private capital in particular -- will be encouraged to invest in important construction projects, and more effort will be made to ensure the smooth implementation of public-private partnership projects.

PPPs are funded and operated through cooperation between governments and private sector companies. They have become more popular as the government is confronted with growing budgetary pressures.

The NDRC also vowed to streamline its approval procedures and improve supervision and transparency.

China's consumer inflation, the main gauge of inflationary pressure, dipped to its lowest level in more than five years, fuelling speculation that further policy easing measures are on the horizon.