Shenzhen leads pack in growth

Shenzhen recorded first-half economic growth of 13.5 per cent, outpacing other mainland cities and coming in higher than the national growth of 7.8 per cent.

The city's gross domestic product stood at 94.02 billion yuan (about HK$88.11 billion), helped by continuing strong growth in state spending, export growth and retail sales.

During the same period, Shanghai's year-on-year growth was 10 per cent, while Guangdong grew 10.7 per cent.

Last year, Shenzhen's economy expanded 13.2 per cent.

According to Sina.com yesterday, Shenzhen's economy grew rapidly in the first half.

Fixed-asset investment, a measure of government spending, grew 10.6 per cent to 29.91 billion yuan. Of this, about 16.47 billion yuan has been poured into property development and another 12.62 billion yuan has been spent on infrastructure.

Retail sales, a large driver of gross domestic product, amounted to 33.27 billion yuan, up 13.4 per cent from a year earlier.

The consumer price index edged up 1 per cent.

The city's foreign trade continued to post strong growth in the first half to reach US$38.56 billion, up 21.7 per cent over a year earlier.

Partly helped by the weakening US dollars, exports were stronger at US$20.51 billion while imports amounted to US$18.04 billion. The trade surplus reached US$2.46 billion.