BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Tibet is expected to record a 12.1 percent rise in its GDP of 43.7 billion yuan (6.41 billion U.S. dollars) in 2009, Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government, said in his Government Work Report on Sunday.
Investment by the Central Government in Tibet came to 21 billion yuan in 2009, up 31. 3 percent from the same period in 2008, the chairman told the 3rd Session of the 9th Tibet Autonomous Regional People's Congress which opened in Lhasa the same day.
Photo taken on Jan. 10, 2009, shows Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government, delivering the "Report on the Work of the Government" at the Third Session of the 9th Tibet Autonomous Regional People's Congress in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua Photo)
Tibet also unveiled a two-year plan to spend 18.5 billion yuan in areas related to "agriculture, rural areas and farmers," infrastructure, industrial development, social undertakings, residents' livelihood and environmental protection.
To date, a 1.1 billion yuan investment, 60 percent of the total, has been made. The loan balance amounted to 24.59 billion yuan, up 13.34 percent from early 2009, helping achieve local economic recovery.
The steady agricultural development and improvements in the work relative to "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" have laid a sound foundation for the rapid recovery of Tibet's economy, and the fast growth of the secondary and tertiary industries, thus supporting the development of the national economy, said Qiangba Puncog.
In 2009, the region's primary industry, secondary industry and tertiary industry registered an increase of three percent, 18.3 percent and 11.7 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, the local budgetary revenue topped three billion yuan, a 20 percent increase.
(Source: Xinhuanet/China Tibet Information Center)