Shanghai\u2019s economy expanded 5.6 per cent in the first half of the year, beating expectations on strong growth in hi-tech manufacturing and exports, even as weak consumer spending exposed the uneven nature of the recovery.<\/p>\n
According to data released by the municipal statistics bureau on Monday, the reading surpassed both the national growth rate of 4.7 per cent for the same period and the city\u2019s own growth rates in recent years, signalling a resilient rebound in the financial and commercial centre.<\/p>\n
But economists warned the figure also reflected a \u201cK-shaped\u201d divergence \u2013 a term used to describe an economic recovery in which some sectors experience sharp growth and others decline. This split has come to define China\u2019s post-pandemic recovery<\/a>, with booming hi-tech and export sectors contrasting with struggling domestic consumption and a deflating property market.<\/p>\n \u201cShanghai is a mirror of China\u2019s broader transition,\u201d said Shao Yu, director of the Shanghai Institution for Finance and Development, a prominent financial think tank.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we are seeing is strong external demand alongside weak domestic consumption, with technology and future-oriented industries powering ahead while spending on housing and everyday goods remains tepid.\u201d<\/p>\n Monday\u2019s data showed that Shanghai\u2019s three strategic frontier industries \u2013 integrated circuits, artificial intelligence manufacturing and biomedicine \u2013 recorded a combined output increase of 14.5 per cent in the first six months of 2026 compared with a year earlier.<\/p>\n