Beijing's GDP reached 1.41 trillion yuan (US$208.78 billion) in the first half of this year, up by 6.8 percent year-on-year based on comparable price, with the new business forms constituting the biggest draw, according to official statistics released on July 18.

Pang Jiangqian, vice director and spokesperson of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, announced that during the first six months, the added value of the primary industry increased 4.2 billion yuan, down 14.7 percent year-on-year; the added value of the secondary industry increased by 243.14 billion yuan, up by 5.4 percent; and the added value of the tertiary industry increased by 1.16 trillion yuan, up by 7.2 percent.

"Beijing's economy has continued its good momentum of steady growth," Pang said during a press conference on Wednesday. She said the city's high-quality economic development is progressing well as Beijing continues to upgrades its structures, shift non-essential functions to other areas and create new growth opportunities.

According to the new report, the number of companies and organizations above the designated scale decreased by 259. Among them, 78 percent come from the manufacturing, wholesale and retail sectors, as well as the hospitality and catering industries. During the same time, there were over 84,000 newly established service companies, with high-tech, rental and commercial services accounting for over 50 percent and up by 1.7 percentage points year-on-year.

High-tech manufacturing and emerging industries with strategic importance increased by 17.1 percent and 12.7 percent year-on-year, contributing to 46.4 percent and 39.3 percent of the overall growth of industries above the designated scale, respectively.

Also during the first half of the year, energy consumption of industries above the designated scale decreased by 8.5 percent, including a 7.6 percent and 9.8 percent drop for the high energy-intensive industries and low energy-intensive industries, respectively.

"The internet and information technology (IT) sector is growing very fast," Pang noted. Since the beginning of this year, emerging new business forms is developing with good momentum, whose added value accounting for over one-third of the total GDP growth, she said. From January to May, the revenue of the internet information, internet security service, internet and big data service as well as software development service industries grew by 38.7 percent, 58.7 percent, 88.5 percent and 21.6 percent, respectively, while the online retail sales of wholesale and retail businesses above the designated scale increased by 22 percent.

Pang said she expects that Beijing will maintain its sound growth momentum in the second half of 2018 and address difficulties in terms of unbalanced and inadequate development while pushing for high-quality growth.

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