Wuxi's GDP growth hits 4.9% in Q1

A view of Wuxi. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]

The GDP of Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province expanded by 4.9 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year to nearly 339.18 billion yuan ($48.98 billion), local media outlets reported on April 27.

Main economic indicators show that the fixed asset investment, added value of industrial companies above designated size, and total retail sales of consumer goods in the city increased 5.5 percent, 6.1 percent, and 8.8 percent year-on-year respectively.

The actual use of foreign capital in Wuxi surged 30.7 percent year-on-year to nearly $1.69 billion, including $726 million of investment in high-tech industry, up 62.4 percent year-on-year.

For example, in February, the Germany-headquartered best-known heating brand Vaillant invested about $360 million to build a research and manufacturing base in Wuxi, its only such base outside Europe.

As of the end of March, Wuxi was home to more than 1.1 million market entities and the number of top 500 Chinese enterprises, top 500 Chinese manufacturing enterprises, top 500 Chinese service suppliers, and top 500 Chinese private businesses in Wuxi totaled 85, ranking first in Jiangsu.

In the first three months of this year, the per capita disposable income of residents in the city reached 21,613 yuan, up 3.9 percent from last year, and the city's urban-rural income ratio was narrowed to 1.27:1.