A city view of Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong Province Photo: VCG

The GDP of Guangdong Province, an economic powerhouse in South China, reached 13.57 trillion yuan ($1.89 trillion) in 2023, growing by 4.8 percent year-on-year, Guangdong's governor Wang Weizhong said Tuesday.

It became the first province in the country to surpass 13 trillion yuan in output value, maintaining its position as the top-ranked province in provincial GDP for 35 consecutive years, Wang said as he delivered a government work report at the annual session of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress.

A manufacturing heartland and leading foreign trade player in the country, Guangdong accounted for about one-tenth of China's GDP in 2023, according to a report from the Xinhua News Agency.

According to the report, in a significant development for Guangdong's economic landscape, the total economic output of Guangzhou city has surpassed 3 trillion yuan. Additionally, Shenzhen has emerged as the second city in Guangdong to achieve a trillion-yuan consumer market status, while Foshan city has become the second city in the province with industrial output exceeding 3 trillion yuan.

The report highlights that in the past year, the value added of Guangdong's manufacturing sector accounted for 32.7 percent of the regional GDP, while the value-added of the modern service industry represented 65 percent of the overall service industry. The value added of the financial industry surpassed 1.2 trillion yuan. With over 71,000 large-scale industrial enterprises and more than 75,000 high-tech enterprises, Guangdong leads the nation in both categories. 

Moreover, the province has maintained its position as the national leader in regional comprehensive innovation capability for seven consecutive years. Guangdong tops the nation in various aspects, including the number of research and development personnel, the quantity of invention patents, the quantity of high-value invention patents, the effective registration of trademarks, and the volume of PCT international patent applications.

As for the year of 2024, Wang pointed out that the main expected targets for Guangdong's economic and social development this year are as follows: a 5 percent growth in regional GDP; a 4 percent increase in fixed-asset investment; a 6 percent growth in total retail sales of consumer goods; a 1-percent growth in total import and export volume.

China's national GDP grew by 5.2 percent last year, meeting last year's annual target and in line with market forecast. The world's second-largest economy is now at 126 trillion yuan, and an official with the National Bureau of Statistics stressed that China remains as the world's largest growth engine. 

Global Times