Shanghai's economy shows strong growth in January

Shanghai's economy maintained an upward trend at the start of the year, reporting solid growth in fiscal revenue, real estate transactions, stock market trading, foreign trade, traveling and consumption, according to official sources.

Despite a high base from last year, Shanghai's fiscal and tax revenue achieved positive growth in January, Liu Gang, an official with Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission was quoted as saying by the Shanghai Observer during a news conference on Thursday.

"Local public budget revenue grew 0.2 percent year-on-year in January to hit 135.34 billion yuan ($18.56 billion), while tax revenue increased 4.2 percent to reach 120.17 billion yuan," Liu said.

The city's real estate market remained active, with 499,000 square meters of new homes sold in January, up 16 percent year-on-year. Transactions in pre-owned homes also saw a 16 percent increase year-on-year, reaching 1.4 million square meters.

Stock market trading remained vigorous, with daily turnover on the Shanghai Stock Exchange reaching 480.97 billion yuan, a 45.7 percent increase from the same period last year.

The city has seen rapid growth in foreign trade, with Shanghai Port handling more than 5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in January, marking an 11.1 percent year-on-year increase and a new global record in monthly container throughput.

During the Spring Festival travel rush, Shanghai recorded some 29.75 million passenger trips between Jan 14 and Feb 6, a 5 percent year-on-year increase, with expectations for a new passenger volume record by Feb 22.

Consumption during the holiday period remained stable, with Shanghai handing 17.78 million passenger trips, a year-on-year increase of 6.1 percent. A staggering 46.5 billion yuan worth of expenditure was generated both online and at brick-and-mortar stores during the same period, among which consumption of inbound tourists and Chinese visitors rose 28 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. Hot streak at the box office brought Shanghai to register 320 million yuan in revenue, topping all Chinese cities.