As China stays on track to achieve its annual growth target, top-tier cities Shanghai and Beijing – along with several inland regions – outperformed the national average in the first three quarters of 2025, with domestic demand driving expansion amid renewed trade tensions with the United States.
Shanghai, the nation’s financial hub, reported 5.5 per cent year-on-year growth in gross domestic product for the first nine months of the year, outpacing the 5.2 per cent national average, according to data released by the city’s statistics bureau on Wednesday.
Shanghai’s economy has been weighed down by weak consumption in recent years. In 2024, the city reported only its second annual decline in retail sales in more than 40 years, with a fall of 3.1 per cent year on year. But this year, consumption – along with hi-tech manufacturing – has been one the city’s main growth drivers.
Retail sales for the first nine months of 2025 were up 4.3 per cent year on year, despite only rising 1.7 per cent in the first two quarters. Hi-tech manufacturing – a category that includes artificial intelligence, integrated circuits and biotechnology – led growth in the city’s industrial sector, with output surging 8.5 per cent year on year.
“In the first three quarters, the city’s economy showed stronger internal momentum, showing a steady and improving development trend,” Shanghai’s statistics bureau said, while cautioning that external uncertainties remained and more policy support was needed to consolidate the recovery.
Beijing also beat the national average, posting 5.6 per cent year-on-year growth over the same period, driven by information services, finance and hi-tech manufacturing, according to its municipal statistics bureau.