Shanghai Reports 9.8 Percent Economic Growth in 1st Quarter

China's largest city, Shanghai, reported a 9.8 percent economic growth in the first quarter of theyear, according to the city's Bureau of Statistics.

In the first three months, the city's gross domestic product (GDP) totaled 108.186 billion yuan, or 13.082 billion US dollars.

The city signed 546 foreign direct investment projects in thatperiod, an increase of 154 year on year; and foreign directinvestment involved amounted to 2.102 billion US dollars, up 110percent.

Foreign businesses actually invested 899 million US dollarsin the city, a 39.7 percent rise on a yearly basis.

According to the bureau, the city economy grew by 7.7 percentin January, 10.8 percent in February and 10.9 percent in March.

The manufacturing industry realized a 13.8 percent rise inadded-value, outpacing the 6.5 percent growth for the servicesector for the first time in recent years.

The real estate sector reported a 21.5 percent growth, thehighest among all departments of the service industry.

The performance of the city's industrial enterprises saw aremarkable improvement in performance in the first quarter, withtheir profit soaring by 22 percent.

The city also recorded an obvious recovery in its fixed assetinvestment, with 23.89 billion yuan of fixed asset investmentmaterialized, up 7.5 percent year on year.

Foreign Trade Surges by 28%

The city has witnessed a rapid growth in foreign trade over the past three months, with trade worth about US$6.5 billion, 28 per cent up on the same period last year.

The growth rate was much higher than the national rate of 0.9 per cent.

A breakdown of the figures show trade volume in March grew by 32.7 per cent, much higher than the city's average rate for the three-month period.

Exports to Asia, Europe and America all shows high growth in the first quarter. The growth of exports to Africa hit 60.3 per cent.

Exports to Europe took up 58.3 per cent in the total amount of goods sent abroad.

In addition, foreign investment in the city rose sharply in the first quarter, with contractual capital amounting to US$2.1 billion, 2.1 times as much as in the same period last year, according to Shanghai Statistics Bureau.

The city signed a total of 546 contracts with foreign investors, 154 more than that in the first three months of 2000.

A total of US$899 million in foreign capital was been channeled into the city during the first quarter, 39.7 per cent higher than in the same period last year.

"The rapid growth in foreign trade should contribute to healthy industrial development,'' said Zhou Zhenhua, professor at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Shanghai's GDP also increased steadily in the first quarter, said the bureau. The city's GDP hit 108.2 billion yuan (US$13.1 billion), 9.8 per cent higher than last year.

Added value produced by industry surged by 13.8 per cent to 51 billion yuan (US$6.2 billion). Service sector added value increased by 6.5 per cent to 56 billion yuan (US$6.8 billion).






People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/