The GDP of the coastal city of Yantai in East China's Shandong province increased by 5.4 percent in the first three months of the year, 0.9 and 0.7 percentage points higher than the national and provincial average levels, respectively, and the first quarter posted strong growth, according to data released by the city's statistics bureau.

Official data indicates that Yantai's major economic indicators have continued to improve since the start of the year. In the first quarter of the year, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size in Yantai rose by 9.1 percent, and investment in fixed assets increased by 8 percent.

During the period, the total revenue of the city's service industry above designated size grew by 6.3 percent to 14.62 billion yuan ($2.11 billion), and the city's manufacturing industry generated 2.04 billion yuan in foreign capital, accounting for 41.6 percent of the city's actual use of foreign capital.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the city's economy experienced some difficulties, but now that the pandemic is over, the city's economy started to flourish again in the first quarter of this year. Industry operators in the city have been in high spirits because the market is on a path of robust recovery, which has laid a good foundation for the city to achieve its GDP goal of reaching over 1 trillion yuan this year.