BEIJING, April 21 (Xinhua) -- The following are the highlights of China's key business news from the past week:

GDP

Chinese economy expanded 6.4 percent year on year in the first quarter of this year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics Wednesday.

The country's GDP reached 21.3433 trillion yuan (about 3.18 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first three months of 2019, and the growth pace was the same with that of Q4 2018.

INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT

China's industrial output expanded 6.5 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2019, the NBS data showed Wednesday.

The growth rate came in 1.2 percentage points higher than that recorded in the January-February period.

In March alone, industrial output increased 8.5 percent year on year, a record-high since July 2014, up 3.2 percentage points from the January-February period.

RETAIL SALES

China's retail sales of consumer goods rose 8.3 percent year on year in the first quarter of the year, the NBS data showed Wednesday.

The growth quickened from an increase of 8.2 percent registered in the first two months.

RESIDENT DISPOSABLE INCOME

China's per capita disposable income stood at 8,493 yuan in the first three months, up 6.8 percent year on year in real terms, according to the NBS Wednesday. The growth rate was 0.2 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

FIXED-ASSET INVESTMENT

China's fixed-asset investment (FAI) grew 6.3 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2019, 0.2 percentage points faster than the first two months, the NBS said Wednesday.

NON-FINANCIAL OUTBOUND DIRECT INVESTMENT

China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) in 143 countries and regions amounted to 25.21 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter, according to the Ministry of Commerce Tuesday.

The ODI, which was invested in 2,060 overseas companies, increased by 4.8 percent year on year in yuan terms.

China's non-financial ODI in 49 countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative rose 4.2 percent year on year to 3.76 billion dollars during the period.

FISCAL REVENUE

China's fiscal revenue rose 6.2 percent year on year to over 5.36 trillion yuan in the first quarter of the year, according to data from the Ministry of Finance Tuesday.

The central government collected about 2.53 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue during the period, up 5.4 percent year on year, while local governments saw fiscal revenue rise 6.8 percent to around 2.83 trillion yuan.

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland expanded 8 percent year on year to reach 95.17 billion yuan (about 14.2 billion U.S. dollars) in March, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday.

During the first quarter, FDI inflow rose 6.5 percent from one year earlier to 242.28 billion yuan.