Tibet's capital sees sustained growth in 2021

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows the autumn scenery in Lhunzhub county of Lhasa, Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region, on Oct 16, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]

Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet autonomous region saw steady economic growth in 2021, with GDP reaching more than 74 billion yuan ($11 billion) — an increase of about 6.7 percent year-on-year, a city official said at a news conference on Monday.

In 2021, the city also saw growth in rural and urban residents' income. Over the past year, the per-capita disposable income of urban residents has reached 49,299 yuan, a growth of 13 percent year-on-year.

The per-capita disposable income of rural residents reached 21,198 yuan, a growth of 16 percent year-on-year. Zheng Hongyan, an official from the city's statistic bureau, said the city's overall economy reached a new level and the economy has continued to recover steadily.

Zheng said the city's total grain output exceeded 158,400 metric tons in 2021, an increase of 1.9 percent year-on-year, with the city's total annual grain output staying above 150,000 tons.

"As a main crop of the plateau region, the region's total barley output reached more than 110,000 tons in 2021, with an increase of 3.9 percent, ensuring its status as the region's main staple grain," Zheng said, adding the city also saw rapid growth in its imports, exports and foreign trade volume.

The city's import and export volumes reached more than 3.6 billion yuan in 2021, including more than 2 billion yuan of exports — an increase of 87.2 percent over the previous year leading to a trade surplus of 551 million yuan.