BEIJING - China's fixed asset investment rose 13.5 percent from a year earlier to 7.75 trillion yuan ($1.26 trillion) in the first quarter of 2015, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

The pace of increase slowed further from the 13.9 percent growth registered in the January-February period this year and 17.6 percent growth in the first quarter last year.

The calculation does not include fixed asset investment by farmers. It includes projects with investment of at least 5 million yuan, as well as all property development projects.

In the first three months, fixed asset investment in primary industry grew the most, up 32.8 percent year on year to 155.3 billion yuan. This growth is 3.5 percentage points lower than that recorded in the first two months.

Fixed asset investment in secondary industry saw 11 percent of growth year on year to 3.14 trillion yuan. Growth dropped 0.5 percentage points from the first two months.

Fixed asset investment in tertiary industry grew 14.7 percent year on year to 4.46 trillion yuan. Growth was 0.1 percentage points lower than the first two months.

In terms of regions, fixed-asset investment in China's central regions witnessed the fastest growth of 15.9 percent during the period from a year earlier to 1.97 trillion yuan. Investment in the west regions grew 12.6 percent year on year to 1.75 trillion yuan. The eastern regions attracted 3.96 trillion yuan in fixed-asset investment, up 12.2 percent year on year.

The data showed fixed-asset investment by foreign businesses grew by 2.6 percent year on year to 202.7 billion yuan, reversing the 2 percent drop recorded in the first two months, while that by businesses from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan surged 14 percent to 215.7 billion yuan.

Private fixed asset investment climbed 13.6 percent in the first quarter year on year to 5.03 trillion yuan, accounting for 65 percent of the total. Growth was 1.1 percentage points lower than the first two months.

China's gross domestic product expanded 7 percent year on year in the first quarter, further slowed from 7.3 percent registered in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Slower growth in fixed-asset investment, which used to be a strong engine for China's fast economic growth, is seen as a key factor in the slower GDP growth.