The GDP of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region was 355.09 billion yuan ($50.21 billion) in the first quarter of 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 5.8 percent, officials told a news conference held by the region’s government on April 20 about expected economic conditions in the current year.

Of total GDP, the added value of the primary industry was 13.57 billion yuan, down 12.1 percent year-on-year; the added value of the secondary industry was 141.88 billion yuan, down 3.6 percent; and the added value of the tertiary industry was 19.96 billion yuan, lower by 6.8 percent.

The data showed that the economic operation of the autonomous region in the first quarter mainly displayed the following characteristics:

Spring plowing and preparatory farming took place in an orderly manner and the output of eggs and milk has continued to increase.

At the end of the first quarter, the cattle inventory was 6.997 million head, a year-on-year increase of 6.5 percent, and the sheep inventory was 66.13 million, an increase of 6.8 percent.

In the first quarter market sales decreased, while daily necessities and online retailing have grown rapidly, officials said. 

Total retail sales of social consumer goods in the autonomous region decreased by 21.6 percent year-on-year in Q1. 

However, commodities closely related to the lives of residents showed a growth trend. 

Officials said the response to the epidemic drove the rapid development of new consumer formats. In the first quarter, online retail sales of physical goods in the autonomous region increased by 31.2 percent year-on-year.

Consumer prices rose steadily and producer prices of industrial producers also increased. 

Consumer prices in the autonomous region increased by 3.7 percent year-on-year, 1.2 percentage points lower than the national average; and the growth rate dropped 0.3 percentage points from January to February.