In the first half of this year, Beijing's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 2,641.19 billion yuan, up 5.4% year-on-year at constant prices. This marks a slight deceleration from the 5.9% growth recorded in the first quarter. Despite the modest slowdown, structural data stood out, with new quality productive forces accelerating. The added value of strategic emerging industries and high-tech manufacturing in the industrial sector above the designated size grew by 12.8% and 15.7%, respectively.
New quality productive forces are expanding at a pace far exceeding the broader economy. The city's deputy director of the Development and Reform Commission, Zhang Xin, noted that while the economic growth rate has moderated, the stable and positive fundamentals remain unchanged, with operations staying within a reasonable range. Since the start of the year, Beijing has orderly released the "15th Five-Year Plan" outline and a set of municipal-level special plans, implementing 24 measures to stabilize and advance the economy, supporting a "high start and steady walk." The second quarter saw stable operations, maintaining a good trend toward innovation and improvement.
Additionally, general public budget revenue in the first half grew 6% year-on-year, with tax revenue accounting for 89.3%, maintaining the nation's best level. Overall, work achieved "half the time, half the task." Wang Yuling, head of the Comprehensive Department at the Development and Reform Commission, explained that the 0.5 percentage point growth gap is more a change in rhythm than a trend shift. This reflects both the natural pullback from front-loaded policies in the initial year of the "15th Five-Year Plan" and the pressure on total growth during the transition of old and new drivers, aligning with economic operational patterns and Beijing's actual situation.
The industrial resilience underpinning stable economic operations has strengthened. In the first half, Beijing's total output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery stood at 10.21 billion yuan, up 3.8% at comparable prices. The added value of industries above the designated size grew 3.4%, while the tertiary sector's added value rose 6.1% at constant prices. Strategic emerging industries and high-tech manufacturing have become the "dual engines" driving Beijing's industrial growth. Production of service robots, industrial robots, new energy vehicles, and integrated circuits surged by 2.3 times, 75.5%, 18.5%, and 17.8%, respectively.
On the demand side, the trend toward innovation is also evident. In the first half, Beijing's fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) grew 3% year-on-year, with equipment purchase investment up 14.3%, significantly driven by internet technology companies. Consumer spending saw a 2.2% decline in total retail sales of social consumer goods, but service consumption maintained rapid growth. Driven by sectors like information and transportation, service consumption rose 4.5% year-on-year, indicating a continued optimization of the consumption structure.
Private investment is emerging as a key force in cultivating new growth drivers. In recent years, Beijing has consistently promoted major projects to private capital, broadening participation space, enhancing convenience, and guiding more social capital toward new quality productive forces. In the first half of this year, private investment in key industries such as manufacturing, information software services, technology services, and leasing business services grew by approximately 1.5 times year-on-year, significantly driving the city's investment structure optimization and industrial transformation and upgrading.
Looking ahead to the second half, Beijing's "momentum toward innovation" is supported by multiple factors. Zhang Xin indicated that as culture, commerce, tourism, sports, and exhibitions deeply integrate, new consumption formats, models, and scenes continue to emerge. Combined with the heating up of summer tourism and inbound travel, consumption recovery is expected to accelerate. Meanwhile, as major "15th Five-Year Plan" projects gradually land and projects in areas like the "Six Networks" and urban renewal are planned and advanced, investment benefits will continue to be released.
On the consumption front, Beijing will further optimize the scope of policies for replacing old goods with new ones, accelerating the cultivation of new growth points in service consumption. Brand events like the China Open tennis tournament, World Table Tennis competitions, and cultural activities such as the Hundred Flowers Awards will connect more consumption scenarios, amplifying the "ticket economy" effect. Additionally, Beijing is speeding up the creation of new urban vitality zones in the east, west, south, and north, promoting the transformation and opening of the Olympic Tower main building, constantly optimizing inbound consumption services, and stimulating the consumer market's vitality.
On the investment side, Beijing will focus on areas like "good housing" construction and urban renewal, studying an updated version 2.0 of the urban renewal policy toolkit, and promoting a new batch of major projects to private capital. On the industrial side, Beijing will deepen Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei collaboration through the "Six Chains and Seven Clusters" framework, accelerating the layout of integrated circuits and pharmaceutical innovation, and pushing more "Beijing Smart Manufacturing" products to market. At the same time, leveraging platforms like the Beijing Stock Exchange and the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), Beijing will encourage professional service enterprises to expand cross-border business, accelerating the quality and capacity expansion of the modern service industry.
Zhu Yannan, a member of the Party Leadership Group and deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, stated that in the first half of the year, Beijing's economy developed toward innovation and high quality, with advantageous industries providing strong support and new quality productive forces being fostered rapidly. However, challenges remain, including a complex external environment and a divergence between domestic supply and demand. "In the second half of the year, we must adhere to steady progress, improve quality and efficiency, continuously tap into demand potential, enhance internal driving forces, and boost development vitality to promote stable and healthy economic growth," Zhu Yannan said.
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