SHANGHAI'S gross domestic product expanded 7.8 percent from a year earlier to 493.7 billion yuan (US$78.9 billion) in the first quarter, according to the Shanghai Statistics Bureau.
The rate picked up from last year's 7.5 percent and was higher than the national average of 7.7 percent though Shanghai was again at the bottom of 22 provinces and municipalities that had released their GDP figures.
"The data indicates that Shanghai is steady in economic recovery," said Li Maoyu, an analyst at Changjiang Securities Co. "Despite a relatively slow pace, Shanghai sticks to her own course of growth toward a service-driven economy."
In the first three months, Shanghai's service sector expanded 9.5 percent to 296.6 billion yuan; manufacturing rose 5.4 percent; but agriculture contracted 2.1 percent.
With only 0.06 percent of China's land, 1.8 percent of its population and 1.7 percent of its investment, Shanghai produced more than 4 percent of the nation's output value.
So far, 22 provinces and municipalities have released their first-quarter GDP data, all above the national average. Beijing, second from the bottom, reported a growth rate of 7.9 percent.