A Chinese worker processes steel products at a factory in Qingdao city, East China's Shandong province, 1 October 2015.[Photo/IC]

A total of 23 provincial regions posted their GDP growth rates well above the national average of 6.7 percent in the first half of 2016, China Economic Net reports citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Five provinces - Yunan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Shanxi and Liaoning - posted slower growth than the national level, while three - Beijing, Shanghai municipalities and Jilin province - grew in line with the national level.

In the first six months, Tibet autonomous region, Chongqing municipality and Guizhou province in the west led the growth at the provincial level, posting growth rate of 10.6 percent, 10.6 percent and 10.5 percent respectively.

In sharp contrast, the northeastern steel-making province of Liaoning saw its economy shrink by 1 percent from the same period last year, the only province to report a contraction.

The underdeveloped western region posted the fastest growth rate of 8 percent year on year; the central and east regions grew by 7.8 percent and 7.6 percent respectively; while the northeast rust belt increased by 2.2 percent, said the NDRC.

China's economy grew 6.7 percent year on year in second quarter, aided by infrastructure investment, a housing boom and bank lending, earlier data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

Although the growth rate is the country's slowest quarterly growth since the first quarter of 2009, it remains within the government's target range of 6.5-7 percent for 2016.