According to the municipal bureau of statistics, economic growth in Baotou – located in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region – in the first quarter is off to a good start.

In the first quarter, the added value of the city's primary industry was 900 million yuan ($137.55 million), a year-on-year increase of 15.7 percent. The added value of the secondary industry was 42.75 billion yuan, an increase of 15.5 percent. The added value of the tertiary industry was 43.37 billion yuan, an increase of 3.0 percent.

From January to February, the city's industrial enterprises above designated size achieved an operating income of 71.17 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 39.5 percent, and a total profit of 7.55 billion yuan, an increase of 94.4 percent. The operating income profit rate was 10.6 percent.

Support for basic daily consumption is strong. The city's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 23.48 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.3 percent.

Prices rose moderately. In the first quarter, the city's overall consumer price level rose by 0.6 percent year-on-year, which was lower than the Inner Mongolia's and national averages.

The income gap between urban and rural residents narrowed as well. The per capita disposable income of residents in the city was 14,100 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.3 percent. The per capita disposable income ratio of urban to rural residents was 1.88, down 0.51 percentage points from last year.

Moving forward, Baotou will balance epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development to maintain the city's healthy economic development.