SHENYANG - China's northeast rustbelt province Liaoning reported fast economic growth in 2017, reversing the negative growth in 2016, local authorities said Saturday.

Gross domestic product in Liaoning, one of the three provinces in the traditional industrial zone, grew 4.2 percent to 2.39 trillion yuan ($375 billion) last year, said Tang Yijun, acting governor of the province, as he delivered a government work report at the ongoing local legislative session.

Noticeably, Liaoning's foreign direct investment sector soared 77.9 percent in 2017, after two consecutive years of decline. Foreign trade also increased 17.9 percent to 673.7 billion yuan.

In 2016, the province saw GDP growth of minus 2.5 percent, the only region reporting negative growth in China.

Liaoning has been under huge downward pressure from its traditional coal, steel and equipment manufacturing industries.