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Beijing’s GDP is projected to grow 7.7 percent in the first half of the year, according to Beijing Daily. Income for urban and rural residents is expected to increase by 9.4 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively. Energy consumption per 10,000 yuan ($1,630) of GDP will drop by approximately 3.5 percent. Zhao Lei, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, released the data at an economic analysis meeting held yesterday.
Fiscal budget revenue rose by 12.7 percent, and disbursement of foreign capital was also above the nationwide average. In addition, profits of above-scale industrial companies across the city during the first five months grew by 18.6 percent, compared with a decline of 11.4 percent for the same period last year. Automotive, electronics and biological medicine industries maintained rapid growth. Online retail sales increased by 50.9 percent, contributing 45.2 percent to the overall growth of retail sales in Beijing.
At the same time, the consumer price index rose 3.5 percent year-on-year, and the number of jobs created for college graduates topped the country.
As of the end of June, 224,000 jobs were created across the city, with the registered unemployment rate at 1.44 percent.
The meeting asked all parties to speed up the construction of the new airport, development of Beijing-Shaanxi gas pipelines, and transformation of shantytowns in the second half of the year. It urged all parties to smooth the implementation of approved projects and ensure that the 36 major projects start construction in the third quarter.
Total revenues in the Zhongguancun demonstration zone reached nearly 1 trillion yuan, a growth rate of 26.5 percent. There were more than 1,900 companies whose revenues exceeded 100 million yuan, contributing more than 20 percent to Beijing’s economic growth. The cultural innovation industry also witnessed total income growth of 7 percent.
CBD, Financial Street, and the airport economic zone all registered a growth of more than 15 percent in revenue in the first half of the year.
The Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area had a growth of 11.3 percent in industrial added value, while above-scale service companies enjoyed an increase of 10.7 percent in revenues and 5.2 percent in profits.
In the case of people’s livelihood, Beijing has worked hard to increase social security coverage and has raised six social security standards by 10 percent each. Pre-payment health insurance was practiced at 196 hospitals, and 6.5 million square meters of old communities have been comprehensively improved. A total of 47,000 subsidized houses were built during the first half of the year.
The city will step up efforts to upgrade its public service. It will build 100 kindergartens in villages, providing services for 24,000 children. It will also ensure all subsidized housing projects start construction. The city will try to help upgrade infrastructures in old communities covering 10 million sq m and carry out 527 renovation projects for the city center. In addition, 85 projects will be launched to benefit 51,000 households. Shantytown transformation inside the Fourth Ring Road will be completed. The Beijing government will also equalize basic public services for the floating population.
The government has unveiled various measures to promote ecological environment construction. It eliminated 146,000 obsolete vehicles and increased the capacity of wastewater treatment and reclaimed water production by 201,000 tons. Afforestation efforts were successfully carried out on 22,200 hectares of land, and illegal constructions covering 34.3 million sq m were demolished. The meeting resolved to address issues regarding air quality, refuse and water treatment, and illegal buildings.
