Central China's Hubei province accomplished 131.164 billion yuan (15.8 billion US dollars) in gross domestic product, or GDP, in the first quarter of this year,up 11.8 percent year-on-year in comparable prices.

The growth rate represented 2.3 percentage points higher than the year-earlier level, according to the provincial bureau of statistics.

In the first three months of 2004, the province's industrial sector recorded 36.7 billion yuan (4.42 billion US dollars) in value-added output, a year-on-year growth of 21.7 percent, 8.8 percentage points quicker than the year-ago level.

Meanwhile, 10.543 billion yuan (1.27 billion US dollars) in gross output was registered by the agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery sectors in the January-March period, up 2.2 percent.

Fixed assets investment in the province rocketed 49.1 percent year-on-year to 24.977 billion yuan (about 3 billion US dollars) for the three-month period, according to the statistical bureau.

Retail sales in the province amounted to 63.259 billion yuan (7.62 billion US dollars) in the first quarter, up 11.3 percent.

The province's foreign trade reached 1.386 billion US dollars during the period, an increase of 28.4 percent.

Source: Xinhua