Beijing's GDP in 2017 increased 6.7 percent

The GDP of Beijing reached 2.8 trillion yuan (US$437.6 billion) in 2017, an increase of 6.7 percent over 2016, according to the data released by the Municipal Bureau of Statistics. With the deepening of supply-side structural reform, the quality of Beijing's economic development has been steadily improving.

The city's unemployment rate remained at about 1.5 percent. The consumer price index gained about 2 percent, and the yearly rise was 1.9 percent. The consumer confidence index was 113.2, remaining at a historically high level.

The tertiary industries achieved 2.26 trillion yuan of added value in 2017, up 7.3 percent year-on-year, 0.3 percentage point higher than the previous year. Some competitive industries, including finance, scientific and technological service, and information service contributed to 53.3 percent of Beijing's economic growth.

Take Zhongguancun as example, the scale of its new information technology industry was about 1.8 trillion yuan, about 11 percent of the country's total. From January to November 2017, the growth of expenditure on research and development of the enterprises above the designated size in Zhongguancun was 17.6 percent, 4.4 percentage points higher than the same period of 2016. Zhongguancun companies hold 79,000 patents, over 60 percent of all patents from the city. The area's revenue growth was 14.2 percent, and the technical income growth was 20.4 percent.

The added value of the high-tech manufacturing and strategic emerging industries in the Chinese capital saw increases of 13.6 and 12.1 percent respectively, which contributed to nearly 50 percent of the industrial growth.

In 2017, the new economy, including the high-tech industries and the strategic emerging industries, accounted for 32.4 percent of Beijing's economy.

Development-related consumer spending, including on healthcare, education, culture and entertainment, saw rapid growth last year. Consumer spending on services accounted for more than half of the total consumer spending, which contributed to 70 percent of the increase in consumer spending.

The per capita disposable income of the rural population of Beijing in 2017 reached 57,230 yuan, 8.9 percent higher than 2016. The real growth was 6.9 percent after deducting the price factor, which was faster than the economic growth.

The city's per capita net transfer payment, including pension and unemployment insurance, saw an increase of 15.4 percent over 2016. The per capita income in real estate rental rose by 14.2 percent.

The housing price has not increased for eight months in the wake of the city's regulatory policies. Last year saw 42,900 homes being sold in Beijing, a decrease of 49.3 percent from 2016. Secondhand housing transaction volume totaled 134,300, a decrease of 49.8 percent from 2016. Meanwhile, the city continued construction of security housing. The total floor space under construction for security housing was 42.78 million square meters, accounting for about 33.9 percent of the newly built commercial housing, markedly higher than the year before.

By the end of 2017, Beijing's permanent residential population was 21.7 million, 0.1 percent lower than 2016. Beijing's population growth and its growth rate have been declining since 2011.