Beijing's GDP up 6.7 percent in first 3 quarters

Beijing's gross domestic product (GDP) totaled 2.15 trillion yuan (US$310.01 billion) in the first three quarters, a year-on-year increase of 6.7 percent, indicating a medium-high growth rate.

The data was released by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics at a press conference on Beijing's economy, held by the Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government on Oct. 22.

According to Pang Jiangqian, spokesperson and vice director-general of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, reforms to boost quality, efficiency and motivation required for high-quality development have increased the efficiency and improved the industrial structure.

Value added by high-tech manufacturing up 16.8 percent

On Oct. 18, Beijing Electric Vehicle (BJEV) of Beijing Automotive Group presented 11 smart electric technologies at the National Conference Center, which cover vehicle technology, intelligent driving, intelligent networking, data security and so on. The newly founded BJPI branch of BJEV will also accelerate the application of technological innovations.

High-end industries represented by the automobile manufacturing industry in the city maintained rapid growth in the first three quarters, data shows.

For companies in the city with annual sales revenue over 20 million yuan, their value added in the first three quarters increased by 7.2 percent year-on-year. Among them, the value added by high-tech manufacturing and emerging industries of strategic importance increased by 16.8 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively. Both increases are also 9.6 and 4 percentage points higher than the industrial average, respectively. In key sectors, the value added by computer, communications and other electronic equipment manufacturing grew by 19.9 percent, pharmaceutical manufacturing increased by 18.6 percent, and automobile manufacturing tipped forward by 0.5 percent.

As the industrial structure improves, people's earnings are also getting better. The per capita disposable income of urban residents increased by 8.9 percent in the first three quarters, and that of low-income rural households increased by 17.4 percent, 8.5 percentage points higher than the city's average.

The total consumer spending in the city reached 1.84 trillion yuan, up 7.9 percent year-on-year. Among the sum, service spending was 999.39 billion yuan, accounting for 54.4 percent of the total. Meanwhile, the per capita spending from the city's residents on services accounted for 56.5 percent of total consumer spending, up 3.9 percentage points year-on-year.

In addition, Beijing made steady progress in affordable housing. The area of newly built affordable housing increased by 23.1 percent, accounting for 43.7 percent of the total area of newly built housing in the city.

As for the air quality, in the first three quarters, the city's average concentration of PM2.5 was 50 micrograms per cubic meter, down 16.7 percent year-on-year, and the number of days with heavy air pollution decreased by 10 days from the same period last year.

Over 20,000 applications for prohibited or restricted businesses rejected

According to reports, from the implementation of the Catalogue of Prohibitions and Restrictions on New Industries in Beijing to the end of August 2018, the city rejected 20,300 applications for prohibited or restricted businesses.

Data shows that from January to August, the profit margin of companies in Zhongguancun Demonstration Area was 9.1 percent, up 0.3 percentage points year-on-year; the per-employee revenue and profit for the companies were 1.48 million yuan and 134,000 yuan, respectively, up by 114,000 yuan and 17,000 yuan year-on-year.

In addition, Beijing not only implemented stricter restrictions on its industries to increase output efficiency, but also increased the efficiency of energy use.

For companies whose annual sales revenue is over 20 million yuan, their energy consumption per unit of value added decreased by 5.5 percent in the first three quarters. Among the 39 major industries in the city, 25 witnessed a year-on-year decline in energy consumption, of which 12 were down by more than 10 percent per unit of value added. Energy efficiency in most industries was on the rise according to the new data.

Online retail sales up 17.4 percent

Beijing is accelerating the construction of a national science and technology innovation center with global influence. Nowadays, mass innovation and entrepreneurship have become a calling card of Beijing.

From January to August, medium- and large-sized key enterprises saw their R&D expenditure rise by 17.6 percent, an increase of 6.8 percentage points over the same period last year. Zhongguancun-based high-tech enterprises above the designated scale saw an increase of 35.5 percent in their technology-related revenue in the first eight months, comprising 16.9 percent of their entire revenue, which is 2.5 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

Meanwhile, "new economy," or new industries, retail formats and business models, have boomed in the Chinese capital.

Data shows that the added value of new economy accounted for one-third of the city's regional GDP. A survey on the city's e-commerce and technology service providers showed that the enterprises saw an increase of their revenue and profit by 8.5 percent and 22.4 percent, respectively, in the first three quarters, both higher than the average in the tertiary sector. The online retail sales of wholesale and retail enterprises above the designated scale increased 17.4 percent in the first nine months, contributing to 79.8 percent of the entire retail sales growth.

A total of 14,000 service enterprises were newly established in the first three quarters, 55.5 percent of which are technology service enterprises, rental businesses and commercial service companies, an increase of three percentage points over the same period last year.