At the press conference on Beijing's economic performance in the first half of 2026 held on July 20, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics and the Survey Office of the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing released the city's half-year economic performance report. In the first six months of the year, Beijing's regional GDP reached 2.64119 trillion yuan, up 5.4 percent year on year at constant prices and outpacing the annual growth target of around 5 percent at the year's halfway point.

From the production perspective, Beijing continued to optimize its industrial structure across the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors. Specifically, the service sector served as the backbone of the economy. The value added of the tertiary industry hit 2.30725 trillion yuan in the first half of the year, up 6.1 percent year on year. 

Within the sector, the value added of information transmission, software and information technology services stood at 677.46 billion yuan, up 9.4 percent year on year, with surging demand for artificial intelligence, computing power and storage capacity, and integrated circuit design. Meanwhile, remarkable results were achieved in the high-end transition of industry. The value added of industrial enterprises above designated size rose by 3.4 percent year on year. The value added of high-tech manufacturing and strategic emerging industries (with overlapping statistical coverage) increased by 15.7 percent and 12.8 percent respectively. Output of integrated circuits, industrial robots and new energy vehicles rose sharply, with the value added of the integrated circuit sector surging 92.1 percent year on year. In addition, agricultural production recovered steadily, with both visitor arrivals and revenue from rural leisure tourism rising.

From the demand perspective, the investment structure continued to shift toward industrial development and public well-being. In the first half of the year, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) in the city grew by 3 percent year on year. Specifically, investment in equipment purchase and in manufacturing rose by 14.3 percent and 23.7 percent, respectively, while those in high-tech manufacturing and scientific research and technical services soared 36 percent and 87.2 percent. The consumer market showed divergent trends. Total market consumption increased 1.7 percent year on year in the first half of the year, while service consumption grew 4.5 percent. However, total retail sales of consumer goods stood at 658.78 billion yuan, down 2.2 percent year on year, mainly due to declining retail sales of traditional gasoline-powered vehicles. Demand for green and smart consumption remained strong, with retail sales of new energy vehicles rising 5.2 percent and retail sales of wearable smart devices and high-energy-efficiency home appliances surging by over 60 percent.

A range of key indicators for assessing people's livelihood were also released at the press conference. The indicators showed that employment, residents' income and consumer prices stayed stable, reflecting continued improvement in people's well-being.

The employment market remained stable. The average surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent in the first half of the year, unchanged from the same period last year.

Residents' income rose steadily. Per capita disposable personal income reached 47,290 yuan in the first half of the year, growing 4.8 percent year on year, with all four categories of income registering positive growth. Wage income was the primary driver, up 5 percent. Net transfer income increased 5.1 percent, while net operating income and net property income rose 4.1 percent and 3.3 percent respectively. Per capita disposable income among rural residents reached 23,437 yuan, rising 5.9 percent.

Consumer prices rose moderately, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) climbing 0.7 percent year on year in the first half of the year, while prices across the eight categories of goods and services showed mixed trends. The Producer Price Index (PPI) for industrial products fell 1.7 percent year on year.

(Source: Beijing Daily)