Construction equipment sales soar as China primes domestic economy

The Chinese government’s long-established strategy of using construction projects to boost domestic demand seems to have contributed to better-than-expected quarterly GDP results - and a huge spike in sales of construction machinery. China today reported economic growth of 6.4% for January to March of this year, which was the slowest quarterly figure for 27 years but ahead of analysts�� expectations of between 6.3% and 6.2%.
Beijing has sought to head off the effects of weak global growth and the Chinese economy’s growing debt problems by sharply increased domestic investment this year. This has taken the form of tax cuts, infrastructure spending and total bank loans over the quarter of $865bn. Infrastructure spending is expected to grow 4.3% in 2019. This includes $120bn in railway construction and $270bn in road and waterway projects.