Xiamen economy gets off to good start in 2019

Xiamen's economy got off to a good start in 2019 as numerous indicators showed positive results for the first three months of this year, according to a news conference held by the municipal government on April 24.

The city's GDP increased by 8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter to 111.47 billion yuan ($16.57 billion), which outpaced national growth rates at 6.5 percent.

The per capita disposable income of residents in Xiamen surged 8.7 percent year-on-year to 16,000 yuan and the city created more than 453,000 new jobs from January to March, according to the news conference.

The actual use of foreign capital in the city jumped 22 percent year-on-year to 4.59 billion yuan ($684.16 million) during the same period, accounting for 46.4 percent of the province-wide actual use of foreign capital, a record high proportion for Xiamen.

According to Kong Shuguang, director of Xiamen statistical bureau, the quick economic growth of Xiamen in the first quarter is mainly attributed to the steady increase of the primary industry and the driving force of the tertiary industry to the economy.

Statistics show that the added value of the primary industry increased by 2.7 percent, an uptick of 6.1 percent year-on-year and 2.3 percent compared to that of the first two months of 2019.

The tertiary industry in Xiamen contributed 55.6 percent to its GDP growth with for-profit service, logistics, finance and insurance sectors performing well.

Kong said that while Xiamen focuses on high-speed economic development, the city also values high-quality development, for which the Chinese city will pay more attention to employment, income, environmental protection in the future.