Suzhou GDP up 4.4% in Q1

Suzhou's GDP reached 513.67 billion yuan ($77.72 billion) in the first quarter of this year, with a year-on-year increase of 4.4 percent, local media outlets reported.

The added values of primary, secondary and tertiary industries grew 4.4 percent, 0.9 percent and 4.4 percent to reach 2.55 billion yuan, 237.63 billion yuan and 273.48 billion yuan respectively.

Industrial production was generally stable with the total output value of Suzhou's industrial above-designated-size enterprises (those with annual operating revenues of roughly $3.1 million or more) reached 1.005 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 9.6 percent.

Seventy percent of the city's 35 industrial sectors saw positive growth, of which the output values of key industries such as chemical engineering, automobiles, electronic information, and electrical machinery increased by 22.8 percent, 14.2 percent, 13.9 percent and 11.1 percent respectively.

The city invested 17.76 billion yuan in high-tech industry, up 33.2 percent year on year, including 26.1 percent in high-tech manufacturing and 71.9 percent in high-tech service industry. The output value of high-tech manufacturing reached 35.88 billion yuan in the first quarter, up 12.8 percent year on year.

Local brick-and-mortar shopping malls and supermarkets have been affected by the COVID-19 resurgence, with the city's total retail sales of consumer goods decreased 1.9 percent year-on-year to 217.53 billion yuan.

Foreign trade remained stable as the total related values of Suzhou reached 637.78 billion yuan, up 14.1 percent year on year, among which the export value was 374.51 billion yuan, up 14.2 percent and the import value was 263.27 billion yuan, up 14.1 percent.

The per capita disposable income of Suzhou residents went up 5.4 percent year on year to 22,143 yuan, among which that of urban residents was 24,241 yuan, up 4.9 percent and that of rural residents was 15,701 yuan, up 6.5 percent.