The Hangzhou statistics bureau announced on July 26 that the Zhejiang provincial capital registered 900.3 billion yuan ($133.42 billion) in GDP in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 1.2 percent.

Though Hangzhou was impacted by a COVID-19 resurgence during the period, it rolled out a number of measures to stabilize the economy and saw consumer markets gradually pick up.

Statistics show that in the first six months of this year, Hangzhou's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 342.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.0 percent and 3.7 percentage points higher than the national average.

In June alone, total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 14.7 percent, 17.9 percentage points higher than in May. Retail sales of new energy vehicles increased by 73.6 percent, boosting the recovery of the consumer market.

Industrial production, the foundation of Hangzhou's economic development, saw stable progress during this period. The added value of industrial enterprises above designated size reached 215.7 billion yuan, growing 5.0 percent year on year, while the added value of strategic emerging industries and digital economy core industries grew by 12.6 percent and 12.9 percent, respectively.

The per capita disposable income of Hangzhou residents reached 38,940 yuan and the gap between urban and rural residents continued to narrow.

The expenditure in the city's general public budget was 128.2 billion yuan in the first half of this year, up 13.5 percent, 5.7 percentage points higher than that in the first quarter. Spending on science and technology, social security and employment, and healthcare grew rapidly.