In the first quarter of this year, Dandong's GDP is expected to reach 19.5 billion yuan ($3.10 billion), a year-on-year growth of 13.8 percent. It exceeded the provincial average growth rate by 3.6 percent, ranking the fourth in northeast China's Liaoning province.

Against the complicated economic situation at home and abroad, the city has been striving for a steady economic growth, adjusting its economic structure, stepping up projects, promoting reform, and fostering a harmonious atmosphere to make a good start for economy.

In the first quarter of the year, the total industrial added value of the city reached 10.58 billion yuan, up 13.6 percent over the same period. The industrial revenue accounted for 59.2 percent of the total revenue, helping increase economic growth by 8.2 percent.

The added value by the above-scale industry amounted to 10.47 billion yuan, up by 14.1 percent and ranking third in the province.

The revenue, tax, and profit of the major businesses of the above-scale industry rose by 13.6 percent, 34.7 percent, and 14.7 percent respectively.

The city consumed 1.12 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity for industrial purposes, up by 7.3 percent, the fastest growth in the province.

The service industry is also gathering momentum. In the first quarter, the cargo handling capacity of major goods such as coal, ore, iron, steel and grain developed at a fast rate, which drove the rapid growth of the cargo handling capacity of the port.

The port cargo throughput reached 20.55 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 33 percent. The volume of highway freight hit 16.37 million tons, rising by 11.97. Passengers by air totaled 39, 300 with an increase of 63.6 percent.

In the real estate market, carry-over projects and newly-built projects are large in number and scale. Both the area and sales of commercial houses have noticeably increased over the same period last year. The city completed investments of 1.08 billion yuan in the real estate industry, rising by 35.1 percent. Sold commercial houses totaled an area of 449,000 sq ms with sales reaching 1.63 billion yuan, twice as much as that of last year. The growth rate topped the province.

The income of urban citizens increased with the growing GDP. In the first quarter, the per capita disposable income for urban residents reached 5,223 yuan, up by 16.6 percent, occupying third place in terms of growth speed in Liaoning province. The per capita of cash income of rural residents was 3,562 yuan, achieving an increase of 20.9 percent year on year.

The public financial budgetary revenue of the city totaled 2.58 billion yuan, up by 30.7 percent. Tax revenue achieved 1.85 billion yuan with a rise of 24.2 percent, making a good start for the first quarter.