A moderate economic growth rate will help Shanghai adjust its economic structure, enhance production efficiency and ensure a stable employment rate, the city's mayor said on Wednesday.

Shanghai's slowing gross domestic product growth rate reflects an ongoing shift to make the service sector a defining priority, a strategy which has started to pay dividends, Yang Xiong, mayor of Shanghai and an NPC deputy, said during the first session of the 12th National People's Congress.

"The easing of Shanghai's economic output, which grew 7.5 percent in 2012, suggested the dwindling role GDP has played in evaluating the health of the economy," Yang said, adding that the city aims to maintain this growth rate in 2013.