Jilin province points to economic turnaround in first half

In the first half of the year, Northeast China's Jilin province posted a GDP of 544.19 billion yuan ($78.2 billion), in a solid performance that withstood the negative impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to local media reports on Aug 3.

Officials said that H1 figure represented a small year-on-year GDP decrease of 0.4 percent based on comparable prices, against the first half of last year.

But within that period, the second quarter -- for March to end June -- saw a 6.2 percentage point increase on the GDP in the first quarter and the six-month performance was 1.2 percentage points higher than the national average level.

According to local officials, in the first half of this year, Jilin province coordinated its measures on COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control with its work to promote economic and social development.

They said success on that front saw the economy performing in a stable fashion -- and most economic indicators came in better than the national averages.

In agriculture, the decline in production narrowed. In the first half of the year, the total output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery decreased by 0.9 percent year-on-year, a 2.6 percentage point reduction in the fall in the first quarter, while the number of live pigs in the province increased by 9.3 percent.

In the first half of the year, the added value of industries above a designated size in the province increased by 3.3 percent year-on -year, 5.4 percentage points higher than that in January to May, and 4.6 percentage points higher than the national average.

Officials said that among its key industries, the province's automobile manufacturing sector grew by 9.2 percent in added value in the first half, a significant increase of 7.8 percentage points compared with the January to May period.

In addition, in the first half of the year, officials added that Jilin's fixed asset investment increased by 7.8 percent year-on-year, which was 9 percentage points higher than that in January to May, and 10.9 percentage points higher than the national average level.

Of that, investment in the auto manufacturing industry noticeably increased by 21.5 percent year-on-year, infrastructure investment increased by 10.6 percent and investment in real estate development increased by 14.2 percent against the same period last year.

In the first half of the year, private investment in Jilin province increased by 6.4 percent, 8.4 percentage points higher than that in January to May.

Officials said that in the first half of the year, 761 new infrastructure projects -- including communications network infrastructure, high-speed rail and urban rail transit -- were started in succession in the province.