A thrilling view of Xi'an. [Photo/Xi'an municipal government's WeChat account]

In the first half of this year, Xi'an – capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province – saw a positive development trend in its economy, with GDP growing 2.9 percent year-on-year to 535.96 billion yuan ($79.33 billion).

During the period, the added value of its primary, secondary and tertiary industries experienced respective increases of 4.6 percent, 5.2 percent and 1.6 percent – to 11.36 billion yuan, 190.63 billion yuan and 333.97 billion yuan.

The city's economy witnessed strong growth in the first half. Its added value of industries above a designated size increased by 11 percent year-on-year, the highest level in the same period in the past five years. This meant it maintained the first place among 15 sub-provincial cities and nine national central cities.

In the six-month period, Xi'an's fixed asset investment (excluding farmers) rose by 5.5 percent year-on-year, 1.1 percentage points higher than in the first quarter.

The consumer market gradually recovered in the first half. Total retail sales of consumer goods came in at 221.85 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.7 percent, narrowing by 0.1 percentage points from the first quarter.

In addition, Xi'an's foreign trade reached 218.48 billion yuan in the first six months, a year-on-year increase of 6.2 percent. The city's exports stood at 135.01 billion yuan, up 31.9 percent, while imports fell 19.3 percent to 83.47 billion yuan.