BEIJING--China's top economic-planning agency approved 91.8 billion yuan ($13.2 billion) in fixed-asset investment projects last month, following a rush of approvals in the third quarter.

Nine projects, mainly in transportation and energy, were approved in October, Meng Wei, a spokeswoman for the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a briefing Thursday.

Authorities have recently ramped up approvals of such projects to stabilize economic growth. Between June and September, the agency gave the green light to projects valued at CNY437.4 billion between June and September, compared with CNY260.3 billion in the first half of the year.

Those efforts began to show results in October. Investment in railroads and other infrastructure projects, rose 3.7% over the first 10 months of the year, compared with 3.3% growth over the first nine months, official data showed Wednesday.

At Thursday's briefing, Ms. Meng denied media reports of a plan to cut an automobile sales tax to stimulate declining purchases, which have posed a challenge to some companies. Sliding auto sales help boost competitiveness in the industry, she said.

In October auto sales dropped for the fourth straight month, down 12% from a year earlier, the government-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said last week.

--Liyan Qi

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 15, 2018 04:48 ET (09:48 GMT)