Beijing's economy grew by 12 percent last year to 772 billion yuan (US$99 billion), making it the eighth consecutive year the Chinese capital's economy has recorded double-digit growth, an official said on Wednesday.

Vice director and spokeswoman of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, Yu Xiuqin, said the city's tertiary industry, which is the service sector including transportation and education, grew the fastest.

Tertiary industry grew by 540.5 billion yuan (US$69 billion), or by 11.9 percent last year. It accounted for a record 70 percent of Beijing's gross domestic product (GDP), said Yu, adding that in 1995 tertiary industry accounted for just over half of the capital's GDP.

Primary industry, which is the agriculture sector, and secondary industry, the industrial sector, grew by 0.6 percent and 12.6 percent respectively, Yu said.

Beijing's GDP per capita grew by 8.8 percent to US$6,210 last year.

Yu said the city had 15.81 million residents by the end of last year, 430,000 up from the end of 2005, and the growing population could add pressure to its economic development and environment.

Meanwhile, Shanghai statistics bureau said its GDP grew 12 percent to 1.03 trillion yuan (US$132 billion) last year and it was the 15th consecutive year that Shanghai reported double-digit GDP growth.

The year-on-year growth of Shanghai's investment in fixed assets and real estate in 2006 both slowed, a result of macro-economic controls to cool the economy, according to the bureau.

Average per-capita disposable household income for urban Shanghai residents was 20,668 yuan (US$2,649), 10.8 percent up year on year, and for rural households, 9,213 yuan (US$1,181), a rise of 10.4 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2007)