CRI听力:China's private investment saw significant slowdown in this year's first half

Latest official data show investment by private businesses in China grew by 2.8 percent year on year through the first six months of this year in an all-time low.

Private investment, which accounted for more than 60 percent of the country's total investment in the first two quarters, even saw a year-on-year contraction this past June.

The much slower-than-expected growth puts private investment in stark contrast with investment by government and state-owned enterprises, which saw an increase of more than 20 percent during the same period.

With more on this, we are now joined on the line by Mike Bastin, Director of China Business Center at Southampton Solent University in London.