SHANGHAI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai's Pudong New Area was estimated to have a GDP of more than 1 trillion yuan (146.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, authorities said Wednesday.

Pudong's GDP has increased over 160 times, from 6 billion yuan when China started to develop and open up Pudong in 1990, officials said at the ongoing legislative session of Pudong.

Pudong's total fixed-asset investment is also estimated to have hit 200 billion yuan, and its foreign trade to have exceeded 2 trillion yuan in 2018.

Research and development spending has also increased and accounted for 4 percent of Pudong's GDP over the same period, with a series of projects launched to deepen innovation.