Shanghai's economy has maintained its momentum, achieving double-digit growth in the first half of the year, industrial restructuring has increased and the government is taking effective countermeasures against SARS, it was announced Tuesday.

The city's gross domestic product (GDP) from January to June totalled 282.57 billion (US$34.17 billion), a year-on-year growth of 11.4 per cent, according to the Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau.

With 145.29 billion yuan (US$17.57 billion) of added value, the secondary industry contributed 74.4 per cent of the city's GDP, said Pan Jianxin, director of the bureau, at a news conference yesterday.

The six major industries such as automobiles, electronic information and equipment manufacturing played a leading role in driving up the development of the economy, hitting 34.2 per cent output growth in the first six months.

Enterprises have become more capable of adapting themselves to the market and seeking business opportunities in difficult times, Pan noted.

Over the period, the output of the Shanghai Auto Group grew by 73.3 per cent while the productive value of the Shanghai General Electric Group and Shanghai Pharmaceutical (Group) Corp grew by 21.4 per cent and 26.4 per cent respectively.

The service sector fulfilled added value of 134.46 billion yuan (US$16.26 billion), growing by 5.9 per cent -- 2 per cent less than the growth rate during the same period last year.

Pan said the slowdown was caused by the impact of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) on the tourism, catering and transport sectors, in addition to others.

Because of the disease, few visitors came to the city while local citizens confined their activities, dragging the growth rate of the retail volume of social consumables down by 1 per cent to 8.8 per cent.

In the second quarter, tourism revenue plummeted by 90 per cent and occupancy rates at hotels dropped by 52.7.

Thanks to the contribution of information technology, real estate and finance, which achieved 13.8 per cent, 8.1 per cent and 7.3 per cent of growth in added value respectively, the negative impact of the virus on the service sector was effectively counteracted.

The rapid growth of GDP has also contributed to the city's investment in fixed assets, 110.88 billion yuan (US$13.41 billion) spent in the first six months -- an increase of 21.2 per cent on a yearly basis, Pan said.

The city's foreign trade was robust in the first half of the year as exports hit US$21.77 billion yuan, which was 50 per cent over last year.

However, as most of the ordered goods were made last year or earlier this year, a negative trend is likely to show in the coming months, according to Cai Xuchu, a senior expert with the bureau.

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