Tianjin posts 3.4% GDP growth during first 6 months

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Tianjin saw year-on-year gross domestic product growth of 3.4 percent during the first six months of this year, benefiting from the synergic development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province and from policies to boost the intelligent manufacturing sector.

Official statistics indicated that the city's GDP touched 992.7 billion yuan ($148.1 billion) during the period. Earlier this year, the city said its 2017 GDP growth was 3.6 percent, down from the high of 9 percent seen in 2016 as it had to reorient its focus toward quality growth.

An employee works on the A320 family final assembly line at the Airbus factory in Tianjin

Chu Liping, deputy head of the Tianjin Statistics Municipal Bureau, said that companies from Beijing and Hebei invested 63.1 billion yuan in the city during the first half, accounting for 45.6 percent of the total domestic investment in Tianjin.

Companies from Beijing have made investments of around 59 billion yuan in Tianjin, "which are an indication that the northern port city is playing an important role in the decluttering of industries in Beijing," Chu said.

Tianjin Binhai Zhongguancun science park

The Binhai-Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park in Tianjin, an industrial park for companies based in Beijing's high-tech hub Zhongguancun, welcomed 474 new companies from the capital city during the first half, Chu said.

Prominent among them are leading internet company Baidu's innovation center, and e-commerce giant JD's cloud innovation hub. At the same time, the city has also revved up its efforts to boost the intelligent manufacturing industry.

In May it announced plans to set up a 10-billion-yuan fund to boost the intelligent manufacturing sector and a 100-billion-yuan fund to support the artificial intelligence sector. This policy was a supplement to a slew of preferential policies for enterprises' smart upgrading since last year.

Technicians adjust manufacturing equipment at a new energy vehicle production line in Tianjin

Statistics indicated that during the first half, the industrial output of the wearable device manufacturing sector rose by 58 percent, while that of robots surged by 30.1 percent.

Liu Gang, chief economist at the Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies in Tianjin, said: "The old industrial structure is hampering the city's economic takeoff."

The Binhai New Area in Tianjin

Statistics indicated that the city's GDP decline in 2017 came about after its economic engine Binhai New Area's GDP fell from 1 trillion yuan in 2016 to 665.4 billion yuan last year.

"Tianjin's economic transformation can come about only by attracting high-end intelligent manufacturing companies and leading professionals. This will boost the city's efforts to tap into the growing demand for intelligent manufacturing industries," he said.

Statistics indicated that by the end of July, 50,000 leading professionals have achieved a hukou, or a permanent residency certificate, in Tianjin, via the city's Haihe Talent project announced in May.

天津上半年GDP增长3.4%

7月17日，天津统计局公布了上半年天津经济运行情况。1至6月，天津全市生产总值9927.60亿元，按可比价格计算，同比增长3.4%。

这一数字与7月16日国家统计局公布的全国上半年GDP增速——6.8%相比虽仍有较大差距，但比天津市一季度增速加快了1.5个百分点。天津市一季度GDP增速为1.9%，在全国各省市中垫底。

据统计，上半年，天津全市生产总值9927.60亿元，其中，第一产业增加值61.55亿元，下降8.6%；第二产业增加值4375.57亿元，增长1.5%；第三产业增加值5490.48亿元，增长5.3%。

天津统计局用“经济运行企稳向好，高质量发展扎实推进”来形容上半年天津经济的运行情况，并强调，“下阶段，要以‘滚石上山’的勇气和决心，认真做好各项工作，推动经济高质量发展不断取得新进展。”

作为四大直辖市之一，天津近十几年的经济增速在全国一直名列前茅，1999年到2014年，天津的GDP增速始终是两位数。但2017年，天津经济增速出现下降，当年GDP增速从2016年的9%骤降至3.6%。

对虚假统计数据主动“挤水分”被认为是天津经济增速急剧下降的原因之一。《天津日报》在2017年12月27日刊发评论员文章《挤干水分关键要“舍得”》称，“要坚决杜绝‘数字游戏’，排除水分，挤干水分，虽然拿出来的数字可能不那么好看，可实际上很‘耐看’。”

固定资产投资的下降是天津经济数据中较为显眼的一项。2016年，天津全市固定资产投资为14629.22亿元，增长12%，而2017年该项目为11274.69亿元，仅增长0.5%。今年一季度，天津全市固定资产投资同比下降25.6%，第一产业增长31.6%，第二产业下降40.2%，第三产业下降21.2%。

从上半年的统计数据来看，天津固定资产投资的降幅已经有所收窄。上半年，天津固定资产投资同比下降17.3%，降幅比一季度收窄8.3个百分点。其中，民间投资下降3.9%，比一季度收窄20.2个百分点，占比47.6%。

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Business Tianjin 2018 July Issue

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