Tibet sees GDP up 9.1 percent in H1

Aerial photo taken on Aug. 10, 2019 shows the Potala Palace in Lhasa, capital city of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Hou Dongtao)

The gross domestic product (GDP) in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region totaled 92.61 billion yuan (about 14.3 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2021, up by 9.1 percent year on year, local authorities said Friday.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the region's average annual GDP growth for the past two years came in at 7.1 percent by the end of June, the regional statistics department said.

The value-added output of major industrial enterprises in Tibet increased by 21.1 percent year on year during the period, up 24.2 percent from the first half of 2019.

Its fixed asset investment went up by 16.6 percent over the same period of 2019.

The region also saw strong consumption demand, with its retail sales of consumer goods increasing by 13 percent year on year to 34.63 billion yuan.

Li Fangping, the deputy head of the Tibet survey office, National Bureau of Statistics, said the region's economic recovery momentum had sustained in the first half.