BEIJING: China’s fiscal spending surged 17.4 percent in the first two months of 2017 from the same period of last year, the finance ministry said on Wednesday, quickening from a 12 percent gain seen in the same period a year ago.

Central government spending rose 8.1 percent from a year earlier, while spending by local governments jumped by 19.1 percent, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

China relied heavily on infrastructure spending to stabilize growth last year as private companies pulled back on investment.—Reuters