Shanghai's gross domestic product (GDP) hit 556 billion yuan ($71 billion) in the first six months of this year, 13 percent more than the corresponding period last year.

Consumer spending and foreign trade were the driving forces behind the robust growth, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics (SMBS) said yesterday.

The services sector's GDP share has for the first time in nearly 10 years outweighed the manufacturing sector, according to SMBS figures.

For the same period, consumer spending gained 14.2 percent and hit 188.7 billion yuan ($24 billion), the biggest half-year increase in 10 years.

The city's total trade value also saw a big jump for the past six months, with the export value rising 20.9 percent to 64.3 billion yuan and the import value gained 21.3 percent to 63.6 billion yuan.

In contrast, fixed asset investment in Shanghai increased a much more moderate 9.6 percent, which was up 0.1 percentage point from the year earlier rate of increase.

At a press briefing yesterday, Cai Xuchu, the chief economist of SMBS, said that the city's economic growth trend was expected to continue because of the projected strong performance of the financial and property sectors in the second half of this year.

"Within the financial sector, the booming stock market alone has contributed an estimated 18 percent of the total GDP growth," Cai said.

(China Daily July 25, 2007)