Shanghai Reports 5.6% Growth in H1, Services Drive GDP

Shanghai's economy grew by 5.6 percent in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year, according to the Shanghai Statistics Bureau on Monday.

This growth rate significantly outpaced the national average of 4.7 percent. Based on calculations, the city's growth rate for the second quarter is estimated to be around 5.3 percent, a decrease from 5.9 percent in the first quarter.

Shanghai's gross domestic product for the first half reached 2.78 trillion yuan (about US$411 billion). It was primarily driven by the services sector, which increased by 5.9 percent year on year to 2.21 trillion yuan.

The manufacturing sector also saw a rise of 4.7 percent, reaching 569.6 billion yuan, while the agricultural sector grew by 0.9 percent to 3.5 billion yuan.

"Shanghai's economy moves ahead amid stable growth in the first half, further pivoting toward high-quality development," the bureau said.

High-tech manufacturing drove the city's 5.6 percent industrial growth: integrated circuits rose 19.5 percent, artificial intelligence 21.8 percent, and biomedical 7.2 percent. New-energy vehicle production rose 33.9 percent in the first half.

Retail sales rose 0.7 percent to 831.9 billion yuan, while fixed-asset investment rose 6.8 percent, led by a 36 percent growth in high-tech investments.

Futures, equities, and gold trading boosted first-half financial transactions by 24.1 percent. The city's imports and exports rose 18.6 percent to 2.55 trillion yuan, with 28.1 percent high-tech trade rising 34.5 percent from a year earlier.

With consumer and producer price indexes increasing 0.8 and 0.5 percent, inflation remained low.

The bureau reported a 4.2 percent growth in Shanghai residents' disposable income to 48,791 yuan.