Graphic by Han Shuang
Shenzhen became the second city in Guangdong Province to achieve 1 trillion yuan (US$140 billion) in total retail sales of consumer goods in 2023, a major indicator of its consumption strength, Guangdong Governor Wang Weizhong said yesterday.
Wang was delivering a government work report to the annual session of Guangdong's top legislative body, which opened in Guangzhou, the provincial capital, yesterday.
An obvious sign of local residents' growing readiness to purchase, it is a milestone in the history of Shenzhen's economic development, meaning that Shenzhen's development has reached a higher level, with stronger confidence and a more robust economic structure.
According to Wang, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Guangdong amounted to 13.57 trillion yuan in 2023, making it the first province in China to surpass the 13 trillion yuan mark and maintaining its position as the top economic powerhouse in the country for the 35th consecutive year.
The province saw its GDP grow 4.8% year on year in 2023.
The added value of the primary industry reached 554 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 4.8%, while the added value of the secondary industry exceeded 5.4 trillion yuan, registering an increase of 4.8% from the previous year. The added value of the tertiary industry surpassed 7.5 trillion yuan in 2023, up by 4.7% year on year.
A manufacturing heartland and leading foreign trade player in the country, Guangdong accounted for about one-tenth of China's GDP in 2023.
The report highlighted that in the past year, the added value of Guangdong's manufacturing sector accounted for 32.7% of its GDP.
Guangdong boasted 71,000 industrial enterprises above the designated size (referring to enterprises with annual operating revenue of over 20 million yuan) and 75,000 high-tech enterprises, both topping the country.
Guangzhou's GDP surpassed 3 trillion yuan and Foshan become the second city in the province with the total output value of its industrial enterprises above the designated size exceeding 3 trillion yuan.
Guangdong set its GDP growth target for 2024 at 5%, according to the report. The targeted growth rates for fixed asset investment, retail sales of consumer goods, foreign trade, general public budget income, and per capita disposable income are 4%, 6%, 1%, 3%, and 5%, respectively.
China's national GDP grew by 5.2% to 126 trillion yuan in 2023.