LHASA — Online retail sales in Southwest China’s Tibet autonomous region surged 58.5 percent year-on-year in 2018, the regional commerce department said on Feb 11.

Online retail sales totaled 4.87 billion yuan (around $720 million) last year, the department said.

About 2.17 million people are using the internet frequently in Tibet, about two-thirds of the regional population.

E-commerce is among a raft of measures Tibet has taken to boost employment and cast off poverty for herders and farmers.

“We’ll promote the development of the Internet-based logistics, deepening our work in poverty alleviation through e-commerce and expanding sales channels for agricultural products,” said Penpa, head of the department.

Tibet is among China’s fastest growing provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, posting double-digit GDP growth for 26 consecutive years. Its GDP in 2018 was estimated at more than 140 billion yuan, up about 10 percent from 2017.