The economy of Qingdao has been developing in a sustained, fast and healthy way. Its GDP reached 79.7 billion RMB in 1997, representing an increase of 20.97 times over the 3.8 billion in 1978. in the same period, the local financial revenue increased by 3.65 times, from 1.295 to 4.276 billion RMB. Grain output amounted to 3.39 million tons in the peak year of 1996, up from 1.901 million tons; the inflation rate is much lower than the economic growth rate.
Qingdao has speeded up the industrialization of its agriculture. As a result the agricultural industrial structure has been improved. By 1997, the percentage of animal husbandry and fishery in agriculture has come up to 55.2%. The whole economy operates in a very sound order. The total industrial output value increased from 5.66 billion RMB in 1978 to 173.04 billion RMB in 1997. The third industry is developing vigorously with its percentage in GDP reaching 37.4% in 1997. The total volume of consumer goods retail sales went up from 957 million RMB in 1978 to 21.6 billion RMB in 1997, with an increase of 22.57 times.
Qingdao became one of the 14 open coastal cities in 1984, which provided an opportunity with historical significance for further opening to the outside world. By the end of 1997, the utilization of foreign investment in Qingdao had been accumulated to an amount of 5.01 billion US dollars. In 1998, the foreign exchange income from exports reached 3.39 billion US dollars.