Through its innovation-driven development strategy, Hai'an is committed to building modern factories. [Photo/WeChat account: gh_fcf610cf10c4]

In the first five months of the year, Hai'an – a county-level city administered by Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province – reported steady progress in its economy.

That's as the city – facing the challenging macroeconomic situation – resolutely continued to pursue stable progress and promote innovation-driven development.

As a result, its industrial economy is improving. From January to May, Hai'an's industrial taxable sales reached 93.09 billion yuan ($13.89 billion), up 6.4 percent year-on-year, ranking first among Nantong's regions.

The modern services industry in the city has continued to develop. During the Jan-May period, the taxable sales of the services sector hit 42.93 billion yuan, while total retail sales of consumer goods topped 16.27 billion yuan.

One highlight is external demand which is reported to be growing briskly. In the first five months of the year, imports and exports were worth 8.45 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.8 percent, with exports reaching 6.75 billion yuan, up 20.2 percent.

Moreover, Hai'an showed a stable performance in finance and taxation. From January to May, the general public budget revenue in Hai'an was 2.28 billion yuan. By the end of May, manufacturing loans had reached 35.60 billion yuan, an increase of 13.9 percent year-on-year.