(BEIJING, October 25) – The economy in the Chinese capital has experienced rapid growth in the first three months of 2007, according to a statistics official.

Its GDP rose 12.6 percent in the first nine months of the year over the same period last year, spokesperson for the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics Yu Xiuqin told a press conference at the Beijing Olympic Media Center on Thursday.

Beijing's GDP reached 641.97 billion yuan (one U.S. dollar is equal to 7.49 yuan,) up 0.7 percentage points and 0.5 percentage points over the first quarter and second quarter respectively, and up 0.4 percentage points over the same period last year, she said.

Preliminary figures show that the added value of the primary sector dropped by 3 percent, the second sector rose 13 percent and the tertiary sector up by 12.7 percent over the same period last year.

Describing the development trend as "of good quality," Yu said "the government, enterprises and the residents are sharing the results of the development."

"Local revenue rose 31.2 percent in the first three quarters and the enterprises' profits surged greatly," she added.

For instance, the profits of the industrial sector jumped 74 percent, higher than the average national level, and profits of the service sector skyrocketed by 1.8 times, a figure never recorded in years, Yu said.

Deducting the impact of the price factor, the income of urban residents rose by 12.6 percent, equal to the GDP growth and a favorable economic data, she added.

Another important feature of the GDP growth trend is the reduction in energy consumption. For example, in the first three months, energy consumption rose by 9.3 percent, lower than the GDP growth rate. In the industrial sector, the energy consumption growth rate of 4.3 percent is much lower than the sector's growth rate of 13.8 percent.

The city continued to focus on increasing expenditure to improve the living conditions of the people. In the first three months of the year, local financial expenditure rose 27.7 percent, including a surge of 34 times in transport, 37.7 percent in education, 39.7 percent in science and technology and 39 percent in environmental protection, according to Yu.

Beijing's investment in infrastructure rose by 33.5 percent this year. Its CPI hiked 1.6 percent over the same period last year, and up 0.8 percentage points from the first half of the year.