Xiamen posts steady economic growth in first four months

Xiamen's economy maintained stable growth in the first four months of the year, according to data released by the Xiamen Municipal Burea of Statistics on May 22.

From Jan-April, the total output of industrial enterprises above designated size reached 219.80 billion yuan ($31.86 billion) and their total value added reached 55.85 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.1 percent.

The total retail sales of consumer goods during the same period stood at 59.13 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.5 percent, with strong demand for green and intelligent products.

Retail sales of new energy vehicles and energy-saving electric appliances recorded 100 percent and 92.7 percent growth, respectively, compared to that of last year, while wearable smart devices, intelligent household appliances, and smartphones saw respective growth rates of 70.9 percent, 94.9 percent and 85.5 percent.

In the first four months, the total export-import volume in Xiamen grossed 188.69 billion yuan, an increase of 0.5 percent over last year's figure and 1.8 percent higher than that of the first quarter.

Its export volume jumped 3.3 percent year-on-year to 105.81 billion yuan, while import volume stood at 82.88 billion yuan, down 2.8 percent from last year.

The actual use of foreign capital in the city surged 15.4 percent year-on-year to 5.40 billion yuan in the first four months.

With that figure, the city accounts for 17.8 percent of the province-wide actual use of foreign capital, a record high proportion for Xiamen.