The gross domestic product (GDP) of Zhejiang province reached 2.91 trillion yuan ($417.3 million) in the first half of 2020, an increase of 0.5 percent compared with the same period last year, with prices remaining steady, announced the provincial Information Office on July 21.

Zhejiang's GDP had dropped to -5.6 percent in the first quarter under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was its biggest drop in the past 40 years. Even so, the decline was still lower than the national average.

The province's economy began to rebound in March and its GDP grew 6.1 percent in the second quarter compared with the same period last year thanks to the progress in epidemic control.

Investment has been steadily picking up with investment in fixed assets increasing by 3.8 percent year on year, 9.0 percent higher than that in the first quarter, and the investment in high-tech industries rose by 12.3 percent, up 7.1 percent over the first quarter.

Consumption is also recovering rapidly with total retail sales of consumer goods reaching over 1.19 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.3 percent. That H1 fall however was an improvement over the 14.7 percent decline in the first quarter.

The network economy has been doing well, with online retail sales reaching 876.4 billion yuan, up 9.8 percent compared with the same period last year.

The service industry has contributed a lot to the economy with its year-on-year growth rate in added value coming in at 2.0 percent higher than that of GDP, driving the rise of GDP growth rate by 1.3 percent.

Industrial investment in innovation and intelligent transformation went up in the first half year, showing positive growth towards a high-quality economy.