SHANGHAI - Shanghai's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 8.2 percent year-on-year to 1.92 trillion yuan ($304 billion) in 2011, the local statistics bureau said Friday.

Shanghai saw a full-swing economic transformation last year, cutting its reliance on fixed-asset investment, heavy and chemical industries, real estate, and labor-intensive processing industries, said Yan Jun, chief economist of Shanghai's municipal bureau of statistics.

The fixed-asset investment in China's financial and business center rose just 0.3 percent year-on-year to 506.7 billion yuan, Yan told a press briefing.

Meanwhile, the real estate sector contributed to 5.3 percent of the GDP last year, compared to 5.8 percent in 2010, Yan told reporters.

Retail sales in Shanghai jumped 12.3 percent annually, far outpacing the growth rate for fixed-asset investment.

Imports rose 21 percent, outpacing the 16-percent growth rate for exports. This was in line with the country's policy of encouraging imports to reduce the trade imbalance, the official said.

Foreign direct investment climbed 13.3 percent year-on-year to a record $12.6 billion, Yan said.

"This showed that foreign businesses had confidence in Shanghai's growth prospects," he said.