Zhangjiagang's overall economy saw steady growth in the first half of 2019, the city's statistics bureau announced on July 29 at an economic performance news briefing.

Industrial enterprises above a designated size achieved remarkable progress during the period, with their gross output value to 216.8 billion yuan ($31.4 billion). Industrial investments also grew vigorously with an increase of 41 percent

In the field of people's livelihood, the city's disposable income rose 8.2 percent to 29,286 yuan. The expenditure of urban and rural public services accounted for 81.4 percent of the general budgeting expenditure.

In the first half of this year, the city's major investment projects totaled 36, with a year-on-year growth of 38.5 percent, the fastest rate in Suzhou.

All these improvements were attributed to the smooth running of government finance. The public finance and budgeting revenue rose 8.5 percent year-on-year to 13.3 billion yuan.

It is expected that the city's economy is to maintain a steady pace in the second half of the year, authority said.