Tianjin posts 3.4% GDP growth during first 6 months

China's northern port city of Tianjin saw year-on-year gross domestic product growth of 3.4 percent during the first six months of this year, benefiting from the synergic development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province and from policies to boost the intelligent manufacturing sector.

Official statistics indicated that the city's GDP touched 992.7 billion yuan ($148.1 billion) during the period. Earlier this year, the city said its 2017 GDP growth was 3.6 percent, down from the high of 9 percent seen in 2016 as it had to reorient its focus toward quality growth.

Chu Liping, deputy head of the Tianjin Statistics Municipal Bureau, said that companies from Beijing and Hebei invested 63.1 billion yuan in the city during the first half, accounting for 45.6 percent of the total domestic investment in Tianjin.