China's urban fixed asset investment was likely to rise by 40 percent year on year in 2009, Lian Ping, chief economist of Bank of Communications (BOCOM), told Xinhua on Sunday.

Government figures showed that benefiting from the massive government spending in the construction of railways, roads and infrastructure, China' urban fixed asset investment rose 33.6 percent in the first half of this year, the largest increase in five years.

"Investment will surge in the second half of this year in China due to abundant liquidity, and this would become a major driving force for the gross domestic product (GDP) growth," Lian said.

Chinese banks lent a record 7.37 trillion yuan (US$1.08 trillion) in the first half of this year to shore up the economy, exceeding the full-year target of five trillion yuan.

The country's economic development was expected to accelerate the pace and expand at 9 percent in the third quarter and 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter, according to a report released here Saturday by the BOCOM, the country's fifth largest commercial lender. (Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2009)