A bird's-eye view of Nantong. [Photo provided by Xu Congjun for en.nantong.gov.cn]

The economic development in Nantong, Jiangsu province, continued to improve over the first four months of this year, local media outlets reported.

During the Jan-April period, the city's added value of the industries above designated size increased 11.2 percent from the previous year, including a 10.5 percent year-on-year expansion in April alone.

In the first three months of this year, the service industries above designated size in Nantong generated 31.97 billion yuan ($4.41 billion) in operating revenue, up 6.1 percent year-on-year.

Investment in fixed assets in Nantong climbed 5.6 percent year-on-year in the first four months of 2024. Such investment in the manufacturing industry grew 7.7 percent from last year, accounting for 52.7 percent of the total fixed asset investment in the city.

During the same period, the total retail sales of consumer goods in Nantong amounted to 146.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1 percent. The online retail in the city experienced rapid increase with retail sales surging 31.3 percent year-on-year.

By the end of April, the balance of local and foreign currency deposits exceeded 2.21 trillion yuan, an increase of 115.79 billion yuan over the figure at the beginning of this year.