Beijing's GDP up 5.5 pct in H1

BEIJING, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Beijing's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 5.5 percent year on year in the first half of 2023, 2.4 percentage points higher than the growth rate in the first quarter, the city's statistics authorities said Wednesday.

Its GDP reached 2.06 trillion yuan (about 288.2 billion U.S. dollars), according to Zhu Yannan, deputy chief of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

Consumption is one of the economic growth drivers. The total market consumption value surged by 9.4 percent year on year from January to June, 6.6 percentage points higher than that of the first quarter, Zhu said.

Among the sectors, the expenditure on services jumped by 13.4 percent year on year, while the revenue of the catering sector rose by 37.3 percent compared with the same period last year, she added.

The automobile manufacturing industry was among the key industries that saw rapid growth, achieving a 16.1 percent year-on-year growth in the first half of this year, according to Zhu.

She added that efforts to stimulate market vitality and facilitate economic recovery will continue.