Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    BEIJING, Jan. 23 -- Consumption in Shanghai rose by almost 18 percent in 2008 from 2007 despite the global economic downturn, authorities announced Wednesday.

    Cai Xuechu, chief economist at Shanghai Statistics Bureau, said the city's total retail sale of consumer goods reached 453.7 billion yuan (66.2 billion U.S dollars).

    Automobiles topped the sales chart with 420 million dollars, a more than 25 percent increase from the previous year.

    And the income of Shanghai's urban residents grew at 12.9 percent per capita, or 2,900 dollars more. Rural residents went up 11.4 percent per capita by 1,660 dollars.

    Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Shanghai.

    (Source: XHTV)