A village in Yadong county in China’s Xizang Autonomous Region borders India and Bhutan. Photo: IC

 
The GDP for Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, also known as Tibet, grew 7.2 percent year-on-year to reach 144 billion yuan ($22.4 billion) in the first three quarters of 2021, data from local government said on Saturday. 

The added value of the tertiary industry saw the largest increase among all sectors, with a with a year-on-year increase of 11.6 percent to reach 80.45 billion yuan.

Although Xizang’s economic growth rate has been slightly lower than the 9.8 percent of the national average so far this year, the average growth rate on two year basis was still 1.5 percentage points higher than the national average, ranking the second in the country, said Cai Min, deputy director of the local bureau of statistics .

Over the first three quarters of the year, the online retail sales in Xizang hit 12.81 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 78.6 percent, 60.1 percentage points higher than the national average, ranking second in China.

“Xizang’s economic growth has remained stable for many years, and a stable and rapid growth path has gradually taken shape,” Cai said.

Residents' income is increasing significantly faster than economic growth.

In the first three quarters, the per capita disposable income of urban residents in Xizang was 35,517 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.2 percent, and the per capita disposable income of rural residents hit 10,470 yuan, recording a year-on-year increase of 15.8 percent.

The growth rate of per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents in Xizang ranked first and second in China, respectively, 4.7 and 4.2 percentage points higher than the national average.

Global Times