Beijing to invest 40 billion yuan to support emerging industries

The Chinese capital city plans to spend 40 billion yuan (about 6.3 billion U.S. dollars) to support the development of its strategic emerging industries. Half of the investment will be used to fund projects in industries such as information technology (IT), new materials, new energy and aviation, according to a statement from the city government quoted by the Beijing Daily newspaper on Sunday. The other half of the investment will be spent to purchase technology and products for these sectors, according to the newspaper. By 2015, strategic emerging industries are expected to account for 25 percent of Beijing''s gross domestic product (GDP), with the percentage expected to rise to 30 percent by 2020, the newspaper said.