Provinces and regions post steady growth in H1

Chinese provinces and regions saw a steady growth in the first half of the year, and the number of those with GDP volume crossing the trillion-yuan level rose to 11 from last year's nine, Ecns.cn reported on Wednesday.

South China's Guangdong province, 4.63 trillion yuan ($671.27 billion), and East China's Jiangsu province, 4.49 trillion yuan, were the two regions that recorded GDP of more than 4 trillion yuan, closely followed by Shandong with its economy generating 3.97 trillion yuan in the first six months.

China's west regions shone in the economic development from Jan-June as the top three spots with fastest GDP growth was seized by Guizhou, Tibet and Yunnan, respectively.

According to Ecns.cn, more than half of 31 provinces and regions registered higher growth rate than the national average level of 6.8 percent, including Guizhou, Tibet, Yunnan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Anhui, Shanghai, Sichuan and Henan.

Guizhou province recorded a GDP growth of 10 percent, the only region maintaining double-digital economic expansion, while Jilin came at the bottom, with a 2.5 percent increase in the first six months, followed by Tianjin's 3.4 percent and Inner Mongolia's 4.9 percent.

Beijing and Shanxi were flat with the national level.

Also, China's northeast rust belt provinces showed signs of picking up, though their economy still grew at a slower pace compared with others. The rate of Liaoning province was 5.6 percent, up 0.5 percentage points from the first quarter, data from National Development and Reform Commission showed.

Zhao Peiya, an official with the investment department under the National Bureau of Statistics, said earlier that investment in northeast areas increased 6.3 percent in the first half year, improving 4.1 percentage points from the first five months and 4.9 percentage points compared to the first quarter.

Liaoning has added 12.1 percent investment during Jan-June, which was 6.1 percentage points higher than the average level nationwide, said Zhao.