CHENGDU, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Sichuan Province reported GDP of 4,067.8 billion yuan (597.9 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, rising 8 percent from the previous year.

Xiong Jianzhong, spokesman of the provincial statistics bureau, said Tuesday that it only took three years for Sichuan to increase its GDP from 3 trillion yuan to 4 trillion yuan.

The service sector saw faster growth of 9.4 perent, contributing to over half of the GDP for the first time, Xiong told a press briefing.

Sichuan's economic structure has been improving and its new growth drivers have been gaining momentum, said Xiong. The service sector and consumption are expected to contribute more to economic growth.

Its industrial output grew 8.3 percent year on year, 2.1 percentage points higher than the national average.

Its foreign trade surged 29.2 percent to 594.8 billion yuan. The per capita disposal income for Sichuan residents increased 7.3 percent in real terms to 22,461 yuan.