Shanghai's economic growth slowed to around 8 per cent last year, the municipality's mayor said yesterday, down from double-digit growth in 2010 and potentially the lowest figure in almost 20 years.
Delivering his annual report at the opening of the Shanghai people's congress, Han Zheng described the slower growth as 'stable and healthy', and said the drop was partly due to less activity in the property sector.
Inflation in the city ran at 5.2 per cent last year, up from 3.1 per cent the year before, but the mayor said this was 'slower than the national rate', without revealing the national figure, which is due to be released next week.
Although Han did not give a specific figure for economic growth - saying merely that it was estimated to be 'above 8 per cent' - if it falls from the 8.3 per cent estimate for the first three quarters of the year, it could be the lowest in 19 years.
Shanghai's economic output grew by 10.3 per cent in 2010, according to the city's statistics bureau.
It has enjoyed double-digit growth almost every year since 1992, aside from 2008 (9.7 per cent) and 2009 (8.2 per cent) when it was feeling the impact of the global financial crisis.
