Inner Mongolia economy rebounds in first half

The economy in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region is rebounding from the impact of the outbreak of novel coronavirus, according to the economic data from the statistics department in the autonomous region for the first half of 2020 released on July 17.

In the first six months, Inner Mongolia's GDP totaled 770.41 billion yuan ($110.07 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 3.8 percent.

The added value of industries above designated size in Inner Mongolia fell by 2.1 percent year-on-year during the period, but the rate of decline narrowed by 0.8 percentage points compared with the first quarter.

The added value of the tertiary industry in the autonomous region accounted for 53.4 percent of the regional GDP, officials said.

They said the express delivery industry played an important role in the prevention and control of the epidemic and the general resumption of work and production in the autonomous region. 

The total revenue for the postal business in the autonomous region was 2.70 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 14.3 percent. The revenue for express packages hit 1.81 billion yuan, an increase of 21.8 percent on the previous year and the express delivery business volume was 76.48 million packages and parcels, an increase of 24.1 percent.

Officials said that in the wake of a spending stimulus policy, total retail sales of consumer goods in the autonomous region fell by 13.8 percent year-on-year -- but the rate of decline narrowed by 7.8 percentage points from the first quarter.

In the first half of the year, the consumer prices in Inner Mongolia rose by 2.8 percent year-on-year, 0.9 percentage points lower than the first quarter and 1.0 percentage point lower than the national average. 

The per capita disposable income of all residents in the autonomous region was 14,628 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.5 percent.

According to data from the autonomous region’s agriculture and animal husbandry department, the sown area of crops in Inner Mongolia is currently 136.35 million mu or 9.09 million hectares, a year-on-year increase of 1.7 percent.

The output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry during the period was 879,000 metric tons.