City’s GDP increases by 7.6% in Q1

Writer: Han Ximin  | Editor: Holly Wang  | From:  | Updated: 2019-05-05

Shenzhen’s GDP reached 573.4 billion yuan (US$85 billion) in the first quarter, an increase of 7.6 percent year on year, sources from Shenzhen Statistics Bureau showed.

Although the city’s first-quarter GDP growth was 0.5 percentage points lower than the 8.1 percent growth in the first quarter last year, it still retained a higher level than other major Chinese cities, showing its resilience and sustainability in the current complicated economic situation.

The added value of above-scale industries increased by 8.6 percent, and investment in fixed assets increased by 22.7 percent. The international trade volume reached 649.1 billion yuan, a decrease of 4.3 percent, but the decline was narrowed by 3.6 percentage points over that in January and February.

Shenzhen’s GDP growth was partially spurred by investment in fixed assets. The city’s investment in fixed assets increased by more than 20 percent for four consecutive years. In the first quarter of this year, the growth kept pace at 22.7 percent, which was much higher than the provincial and national averages.

The investment in infrastructure increased by 45.4 percent in the first quarter of this year, 27.9 percentage points higher than the first quarter in 2018, and reached a new record since June 2017. In the first quarter, the city completed 20.9 percent of its yearly investment budget for 297 key projects.

To maintain high GDP growth, the city will focus on the development of key industries this year, especially high-growth, innovation-type enterprises in new-generation information technologies, artificial intelligence, biopharmacy and high-end manufacturing.

In 2019, the city will also speed up the commercial deployment of 5G technologies, which is considered key to stable economic growth, authorities said.