The economy in Ningbo, Zhejiang province saw a solid start at the beginning of 2018 with a 7.6 percent growth in the first quarter, according to data released by the city's statistics office on April 26.

The GDP in Ningbo reached 235.14 billion yuan ($36.99 billion) in the first three months of 2018, up 7.6 percent year-on-year at comparable prices. The increase was 0.8 percentage points faster than the national figure and 0.2 percentage points faster than the provincial level.

Primary industries registered a value added of 5.65 billion yuan from January to March while the secondary industry figure was 124.53 billion yuan and the tertiary one was 104.96 billion yuan.

Businesses and industries continued to grow fast, and the industrial structure steadily improved as new growth drivers expanded.

The value added of the automobile, tobaccos and special-support equipment industries remained robust with growth rates hitting 16.1 percent, 14.7 percent and 13 percent respectively.

Within the January-March period, investment also showed good momentum. Investment in high-tech industries increased by 15.7 percent and private investment picked up by 26.2 percent in the same period.

In the first three months, Ningbo's per capita disposable income stood at 16.53 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8 percent, according to official data.