Each of the ten other provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in west China excluding Guizhou and Tibet logged economic expansion rates of more than 12 percent in the first half of the year, Vice-Minister Li Zibin in charge of the SDRC told a press conference held by the Information Office of the State Council.

And the rate of Inner Mongolia hit 18.7 percent, the highest in the country.

According to Li, also deputy director of the Office of the Leading Group for Western Region Development of the State Council, large enterprises in west China recorded a year-on-year rise of 22 percent in combined industrial added value in the first eight months, compared with the national average of 17.1 percent.

Investment for fixed assets including infrastructure and factory equipment in west China jumped 34.3 percent from January to August, slightly higher than the national average of 31.3 percent.

In the year through August, west China also posted a growth rate of 22 percent in combined fiscal income, an upturn in import and export growth and a general slowdown in the consumer price index.