Ningbo's gross domestic product (GDP) totaled 246.38 billion yuan in the first quarter, down 7 percent year-on-year. [Photo/cnnb.com.cn] 

Ningbo's gross domestic product (GDP) totaled 246.38 billion yuan ($35.7 billion) in the first quarter, down 7 percent year-on-year, the municipal bureau of statistics said on April 29. 

The added value of the city's primary industry dipped only 0.2 percent year-on-year during the January-March period to 6.14 billion yuan, compared to an 11.4-percent drop in the secondary industry to 106.52 billion yuan and a 3.3-percent decline to 133.72 billion yuan in the service sector, according to the bureau. 

The added value of industries above the designated size from January to March fell 11.8 percent year-on-year to 80.22 billion yuan. 

However, some emerging industries maintained growth, bucking the overall decline. 

The added-value of the high-tech manufacturing and cultural manufacturing sectors grew by 2.1 percent and 1.3 percent respectively over the three-month period. Online education also saw overall growth and retail sales of daily necessities related to preventing against infection grew robustly in Q1.

The city's total foreign trade value decreased by 10.3 percent in the first quarter to 184.22 billion yuan, with exports down 11.8 percent to 114.81 billion yuan and imports down 7.6 percent to 69.71 billion yuan.

Its exports accounted for 3.44 percent of the country's total, roughly the same as Q1 last year. 

Meanwhile, the city's per capita disposable income was 17,786 yuan, down 4.8 percent. The per capita disposable income of urban residents was 20,350 yuan, down 4.9 percent, while the figure for their rural counterparts was 11,473 yuan, down 5.4 percent. 

The city's per capita living expenditure was 8,500 yuan, down 8 percent year-on-year. 

Major economic indicators show a clear rebound in March, and the economy is getting back on track at a faster pace, according to an official from the Ningbo municipal bureau of statistics.

However, uncertainty factors are increasing as the pandemic continues to spread around the world, he added.