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The prostitution crackdown in Dongguan, Guangdong province, that began early this year has not affected the city's economy, a senior local government official said.

The news refutes reports during the crackdown that the sex trade was a major driver of the city's economy.

In an interview aired by China Central Television on Tuesday, Dongguan Mayor Yuan Baocheng said some key economic indexes, including industrial electricity consumption and exports, showed increasing momentum in the first three months of this year.

"I have always understood that the crackdown on prostitution will not largely affect local economic development, given that the illegal sex industry accounted for only a small percentage of the local economy," Yuan said.

A three-month sex-trade crackdown since February, following CCTV's exposure of rampant prostitution in Dongguan - a manufacturing and trade city in the Pearl River Delta - raised concern over a possible post-crackdown economic slowdown.

During the crackdown, hundreds of entertainment venues, including massage parlors and hotels, were closed, and a number of local officials were put under investigation for alleged involvement in the sex industry.

But "preliminary economic statistics in the first quarter of this year are beyond our expectation", Yuan said.

Dongguan's industrial power consumption increased by about 13 percent year-on-year in March, indicating an active manufacturing activity, Yuan said.

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