Ningbo, the second-largest city in East China's Zhejiang province [Photo/IC] 

Regional GDP in Ningbo, the second-largest city in Zhejiang province, reached nearly 247 billion yuan ($36.75 billion), a year-on-year increase of 7.1 percent, and 0.7 percent higher than the national average, according to a recent announcement from Ningbo Statistics Bureau. 

"The growth was mainly driven by the industrial and services sectors," said Xu Tingya, deputy director of the bureau.

According to Xu, companies with annual revenue of 20 million yuan or above were the main driving force behind the growth. They saw a year-on-year increase of 7.4 percent in value added during the period, contributing 0.4 percent more of GDP growth compared with a year earlier.

The service sector saw its value added increase by 7.8 percent, contributing 51.3 percent of the city's GDP growth.

Xu went on to point out that the growth was partly attributable to the improved policy climate that raised market expectancy.

"A series of tax reduction policies were released at city, provincial and national levels to support the real economy and improve the business climate, and this has increased the confidence of companies and boosted production," said Xu.