Ningbo's gross domestic product (GDP) totaled 1.1985 trillion yuan ($173.69 billion) in 2019, according to a communique released by the Ningbo Bureau of Statistics on March 16.

The figure represents a yearly uptick of 6.8 percent, 0.7 percentage points faster the national average over the same period.

The output of the city's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries reached 32.2 billion yuan, 578.3 billion yuan, and 588 billion yuan, representing growth of 2.3 percent, 6.3 percent, and 7.6 percent, respectively.

The communique also said Ningbo increased its general public budget revenue by 6.4 percent last year, while consumer prices rose by 3 percent.

In addition, the city created 254,000 new jobs, with the urban surveyed unemployment rate at around 1.61 percent in 2019.

The city's overall per capita disposable income increased by 8.7 percent to 56,982 yuan. Per capita disposable income of urban residents rose 7.9 percent to 64,886 yuan, while the figure for rural residents was 36,632 yuan, representing an increase of 8.9 percent.

The industrial added value of enterprises above the designated sized in Ningbo reached 399.15 billion yuan, up 6.4 percent year-on-year. 

R&D expenditures for businesses above designated size in the city totaled 33.68 billion yuan, rising 13.7 percent.

Also in 2019, the city registered 47,000 new patents, including 5,075 invention patents. 

A total of 815 companies were listed as high-tech companies, increasing the total number of high-tech companies in Ningbo to 2,149. 

The value of its foreign trade rose 6.9 percent year-on-year to 917.03 billion yuan, with exports up 7.6 percent to 596.96 billion yuan, while the trade value of cross-border e-commerce in the city surged 17.2 percent to 128.2 billion yuan.

Tourism and MICE witnessed robust growth as well, and the city raked in 233.09 billion yuan in tourism revenue, an annual increase of 16.2 percent. 

It also hosted a total of 330 exhibitions and conferences throughout the year, including the inaugural China-CEEC Expo & International Consumer Goods Fair. 

The actual use of foreign investment in the city jumped 19.7 percent to $2.36 billion.

The cargo throughput of Ningbo Zhoushan port, China's busiest port, grew 3.3 percent to 1.12 billion tons, ranking first in the world for the 11th year in a row.