Services behind steady growth of city’s economy 
2019-05-01
SHANGHAI’S economy grew steadily in the first quarter, with services contributing 72.4 percent of GDP, the Shanghai Statistics Bureau said yesterday.
GDP hit 831 billion yuan (US$123 billion) in the first three months, up 5.7 percent from a year earlier, with services accounting for 72.4 percent — 601 billion yuan — an increase of 2.5 percentage points compared with the whole year 2018.
In terms of major sectors, value added output of the financial sector was 171 billion yuan in the first three months, up 13.3 percent over the same period last year. The social services sector jumped 10.6 percent to 223 billion yuan.
The transportation, warehousing and postal services posted value-added output of 37.8 billion yuan, up 4.3 percent, and the real estate sector rose 8.3 percent to 50.9 billion yuan.
Revenue of general public budgets increased 3.3 percent to 226 billion yuan, but individual income tax declined 31.4 percent due to a rise in the threshold of individual income tax and special deductions. Expenditure in the general public budget rose 9.3 percent to 217 billion yuan.
Employment remained stable with 192,200 new jobs, an increase of 17,100 over last year. The number of registered urban unemployed was 188,300, down 20,300 from a year earlier. Prices of consumer products advanced 1.6 percent year on year.
