City’s economy robust, but pace is slowing

SHANGHAI’S economy grew 6.6 percent in the first three quarters from a year earlier to 2.4 trillion yuan (US$340.6 billion), but growth was 0.3 percentage points slower than the first half and 0.1 percentage points below national growth.

The gains were fueled by the services sector, up 8.2 percent year on year to 1.65 trillion yuan and accounting for 69.6 percent of the city’s GDP, according to the latest data from the Shanghai Statistics Bureau.

The gross industrial output value of major enterprises sizes rose 2.2 percent to 2.57 trillion yuan from the same period last year.

Gross industrial output measures total economic activity and is a broader indicator than GDP, which measures only finished goods and services.

Of the city’s six key industrial sectors, automobile manufacturing rose 4.7 percent year on year and biomedical production 9.5 percent. The output of complete equipment manufacturing and petrochemical and fine chemicals also rose, up 3.2 percent and 0.8 percent.

Output of high-quality steel manufacturing and electronic information product manufacturing, however, fell from the same period last year.

The industrial added value of strategic emerging industries grew 3.5 percent year on year to 766.43 billion yuan, down 4.6 percentage points from the first half of the year.

Shanghai’s foreign trade in the first three quarters grew 5.8 percent from a year earlier to 2.51 trillion yuan, 2 percentage points faster than the pace in the first half year, according to the Shanghai Customs bureau.

Imports were up 7.7 percent to 1.52 trillion yuan while exports rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier to 993.22 billion yuan.

The actual amount of foreign direct investment in the city amounted to US$12.94 billion in the first nine months, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier.

Fixed-asset investment rose 6.9 percent year on year, 0.9 percentage points faster than the first six months, with the industrial sector up 18.5 percent.

State-owned enterprises’ FAI rose 2.2 percent, while nonSOEs’ investment surged 8.6 percent, among which private investment increased 7.2 percent to account for 39.2 percent in the total FAI of the city.

Infrastructure FAI jumped 5.5 percent and that in real estate development grew 5.3 percent.