Chinese economy shows strong growth momentum

Chinese economy has shown strong economic growth momentum with a total of 16 provincial-level regions, including seven in the western region and two in the central, outpacing the national economic growth rate in 2023, Securities Daily reported on Tuesday.

Xizang autonomous region's GDP growth rate reached 9.5 percent in 2023, taking the lead in the country for now, followed by Hainan province, and Inner Mongolia autonomous region with 9.2 and 7.3 percent GDP growth, respectively.

The places with growth rates above 6 percent include Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Gansu and Jilin provinces, Chongqing, as well as Shandong, Sichuan, Zhejiang, and Hubei provinces.

From the economic growth rate's perspective, China's western region and relatively more developed places in the eastern region witnessed a more rapid economic growth in 2023, said Ming Ming, chief economist at CITIC Securities.

From the economic operation's perspective, the investment growth rate is relatively high in the western region, while the eastern region has higher degree of opening-up, more active private economy, fuller utilization of talent dividend, relative intensive policies implementation and stronger government guidance in investment.

The economic growth of some provinces outperformed the national average in 2023, mainly due to the accelerated recovery of industrial and service growth, said Liu Xiangdong, deputy head of China Center for International Economic Exchanges' Economic Research Department.

Liu emphasized the importance of the rapid growth of the service industry, which has performed very well as consumption recorded recovery at a faster pace.

In terms of economic aggregate, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shandong provinces ranked top three in 2023, with each province's economic aggregate surpassing 9 trillion yuan ($1.26 trillion).

As an economic powerhouse in China, Guangdong became the first province in the country with an annual GDP of 13 trillion yuan, and its economic aggregate has ranked first for 35 consecutive years.

Tian Lihui, director of the Institute of Finance and Development at Nankai University, said Guangdong's industrial growth showed strong growth momentum, driven by emerging industries such as new energy vehicles, photovoltaics and wind power.

Jiangsu vigorously promoted the rapid development of emerging industries and the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and has made remarkable progress in the fields of high-tech industries, new materials and intelligent manufacturing.

Stable expectations are crucial to economic development. The setting of economic growth targets should be reasonable and stable, so as to enhance the confidence of enterprises and the market and promote investment and consumption, Tian said.

At present, 27 regions have set economic growth targets for 2024, with Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang aiming for around or above 5 percent growth this year, and Xizang and Hainan aiming for growth of around 8 percent, the report said.