Northeast China's Jilin Province saw its economy grow by 14.7 per cent during the first quarter due to good performance in heavy industry and a recovering service sector.

The province, one of the country's granaries and heavy industrial bases, notched up a gross domestic product (GDP) of 51.2 billion yuan (US$6.19 billion), up 14.7 per cent over the same period in the previous year, said Cheng Jianhua, spokesman for the provincial bureau of statistics.

It is the highest increase in the past few years and signals Jilin's economy is entering "a new period of fast growth," according to Cheng.

The province's heavy industry continues to play a major role in fueling the economy, which contributed an added value of 7.3 billion yuan (US$883 million) in March alone, a historic high on a monthly basis.

This also reflects that the province's massive campaign of reforming stagnant State-owned enterprises has paid off, Cheng said.

The province is determined to restructure over 90 per cent of its SOEs in the coming three years through market-oriented means including mergers and acquisitions, said Cheng.

A number of them have been restructured and have started making profits this year, he told China Daily.

Meanwhile, the province's service sector achieved an added value of 21.47 billion yuan (US$2.6 billion) in the past three months, an increase of 12.1 per cent year- -on-year, up from the 9.1 per cent growth rate at the end of 2003.

With urban and rural populations earning more, the retail and catering sectors saw big jumps, up 14.8 per cent and 12.8 per cent respectively on a yearly basis.

Urban citizens' average disposable earnings soared a year-on-year 14 per cent to stand at 1,993 yuan (US$241) during the first quarter, while that of rural people was up 9.7 per cent to 974 yuan (US$118).

(China Daily April 17, 2004)