Zibo city GDP reaches $15.3 billion in Q1

(ECNS) -- According to the Statistics Bureau of Zibo City in East China’s Shandong Province, its GDP reached 105.77 billion yuan($15.3 billion) in the first quarter, with a year-on-year increase of 4.7 percent.

Among them, recovery momentum of the consumer market is strong. In the first quarter, the city achieved a total retail sales of consumer goods of 31.36 billion yuan, an increase of 8.3 percent year-on-year, which is respectively higher than the average growth rates of the whole province and the country by 2.7 and 2.5 percentage points.

The total retail sales of consumer goods above the designated size reached 11.1 billion yuan, an increase of 11.1 percent, which is 13.3 percentage points higher than that of January and February.

The revenue of wholesale, retail, accommodation, and catering industries above designated size increased by 9.5 percent, 15 percent, 16 percent, and 25.2 percent respectively, compared to the first two months of the year, with an increase of 4.7, 14.9, 7.2, and 19.8 percentage points respectively.

The low-profile industrial city has unexpectedly become one of the most popular tourist attractions in China since March due to unique local barbecue- grilled meat wrapped in crispy pancakes with shallots and tourist-friendly policies.