China's national economy slowed down in the first quarter of 2005, amid worries of overheated growth.

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated at 8.8 percent in the quarter, much lower than 9.7 percent growth rate in the same period last year, said the State Information Center in a report released here Friday.

Fixed asset investment would rise 24 percent, a sharp drop compared with 43 percent increase in the same period last year, the report says.

Slowdown of fixed asset investment is the major reason leading to the drop of GDP growth, said Qi Jingmei, senior economic analyst with the State Information Center.

Its contribution to economic growth would drop to 57.8 percent in the first quarter, 16.9 percentage points lower than last year.

Inflationary pressures that had threatened the economy were eased in the period, said Qi.

The driving force of agriculture to GDP got weaker in the first quarter. Last year's grain output growth was mainly due to the increase of farming area and enhancement of productivity.

This year, the agricultural sector will be hard pressed to maintain the same high growth rate, said Qi.

The growth rate of agriculture would be 3 percent, 3.3 percentage points lower than the fourth quarter last year, the report says.

"The slowdown of agriculture is another major reason contributing to GDP growth drop," said Qi.

The growth of industrial output, a major contributor to China's economic growth, would be 17.2 percent in the first quarter, half a percentage point lower than last year.

Last year China's economic growth was higher than 9.5 percent. The government announced this year's targeted economic growth rate is 8 percent.

China's economy has entered a new booming period, Qi said. Change of consumption structure, urbanization and shift of international manufacturing to China all contribute to fast economic growth, he said.

(Xinhua)