Photo: VCG

BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Beijing's regional gross domestic product (GDP) was down 3.2 percent year on year to 1.62 trillion yuan (about 232 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year, local authorities said on Monday.

The decline narrowed by 3.4 percentage points compared with that of the first quarter, indicating the steady economic recovery of the city, said Pang Jiangqian, spokeswoman for the municipal bureau of statistics.

Pang said the city's economy has shown a rebound as well as strong resilience and vitality, with the advantageous sectors playing an important role.

The value-added output of the high-tech manufacturing sector saw a year-on-year growth of 3.2 percent in H1, compared with a decline of 4.2 percent in the first quarter. The output of the strategic emerging sectors was down by 1.1 percent, narrowing by 9.3 percentage points from Q1, she said.

The investment in the high-tech manufacturing sector surged by 1.2 times, while that in the high-tech service sector rose 24 percent in the first six months, she said.

Since the economy has been seriously affected by COVID-19 since the beginning of this year, Beijing took a series of measures to help enterprises overcome operating difficulties.