Major economic indicators for January-April reflect ongoing recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a brief released by the Zhuhai Statistics Bureau on May 25.

From January to April, the value added of industrial enterprises above designated size decreased by 13.7 percent year-on-year to 28.55 billion yuan ($4 billion). The rate of decrease was 7 percentage points lower than that of the January-March period, as production resumed.

Meanwhile, the value added of pillar industries was 22.18 billion yuan ($3.1 billion), a year-on-year decline of 13.8 percent.

Nevertheless, the biomedicine sector, for instance, tallied a 2-percent increase, and 11 of the city's 34 industries above designated size realized growth; four even recorded a growth rate of more than 10 percent.

Macao entrepreneurs tour Hengqin New Area on May 18 for business and exchange purposes [Photo courtesy WeChat account: zhdhq629] 

In the first four months of this year, Zhuhai's fixed-asset investment dropped 8.8 percent year-on-year to 50.12 billion yuan ($7 billion), but the decrease was 0.1 percentage point less than that of the first quarter of this year.

Despite that, local industrial investment increased by 13.6 percent to 8.23 billion yuan ($1.15 billion). Investments in technical transformation increased 26.8 percent and that in equipment manufacturing rose by 13 percent.

Infrastructure investment was recorded at 9.81 billion yuan ($1.38 billion), down 2.1 percent year-on-year, 13.1 percentage points less than the downward trend of the January-March period, which indicates an accelerating recovery.

Investments in health, daily life services, and public administration maintained fast growths of 71.7 percent, 33.6 percent, and 13.8 percent respectively.

Moreover, Zhuhai has been releasing coupons since April to boost consumption. Total retail sales of consumer goods declined 22 percent to 24.76 billion yuan ($3.47 billion), a less severe drop by 0.1 percentage point than the first quarter.

Apart from domestic consumption, Zhuhai exports of electromechanical and hi-tech products are also recovering with their respective export values dropping by 7.1 percent (6.1 percent points less than in the January-March period) and 9.2 percent (2 percent points lower than the January-March period) to 35.79 billion yuan ($5 billion) and 14.68 billion yuan ($2 billion) from the previous year.

As of late April, RMB deposits in local financial institutions rose by 22.2 percent year-on-year to 913.52 billion yuan ($128.1 billion), while loans grew by 22.8 percent to 690.33 billion yuan ($96.8 billion).