2019 Guangdong Government Work Report

Beautiful view of Guangdong province [Photo/VCG]

The second session of the 13th Guangdong Provincial People's Congress was held on Jan 28, 2019. Ma Xingrui, governor of Guangdong province, delivered a government work report, highlighting some of the province's most important achievements in 2018 and setting out plans and objectives for the future. 

Guangdong province has made remarkable achievements over the past year. The province's GDP reached 9.73 trillion yuan ($141.69 billion), a year-on-year increase of 6.8 percent. The general public budget revenue reached 1.21 trillion yuan, a comparable increase of 7.9 percent. The per capita annual income of residents reached 35,800 yuan, an increase of 8.5 percent, and consumer prices rose 2.2 percent. Fixed asset investment has increased by 10.7 percent, and investment in provincial key projects exceeded 700 billion yuan. The province's total import and export volume reached 7.16 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.1 percent. The actual use of foreign capital was 145.09 billion yuan, an increase of 4.9 percent. The province also created 1.476 million new jobs in urban areas in 2018.

In 2018, the number of individual industrial and commercial households and private enterprises in Guangdong province exceeded 10 million, and the added value of the private economy reached 5.26 trillion yuan, accounting for 54.1 percent of the total GDP. Foreign trade has developed rapidly as the import and export of cross-border e-commerce increased by 72 percent. The number of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 8,439, totaling more than 50,000, ranking top in the country. Meanwhile, 12 enterprises in the province became Fortune 500 companies. The province has built two new national high-tech zones, bringing the total to 14. The number of national high-tech enterprises exceeds 40,000. The added value of the new economy accounted for 25.5 percent of the total GDP. 

Guangdong province has built 50 provincial-level modern agricultural industrial parks, while bringing the number of national modern agricultural industrial parks to four. It has constructed 4,737 kilometers of rural roads, 277 kilometers of national highway, and 2,088 kilometers of small and medium-sized rivers. A total of 3 million mu of high-quality farmland was constructed and 163,200 mu (10,880 hectares) of paddy fields were built. Moreover, the minimum standard for rural living allowances increased to more than 5,280 yuan per capita and 3.927 billion yuan in aid was used to implement 1,517 poverty alleviation projects.

The province also focused on innovation and creation. R&D expenditures exceeded 250 billion yuan in 2018, accounting for 2.65 percent of GDP. The number of effective invention patents reached 249,000 and regional innovation comprehensive ability ranked first in the country.  

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge [Photo/VCG]

In addition, the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway has also attracted worldwide attention.

Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway [Photo/IC] 

The government report also mentioned the plans and objectives for 2019. Guangdong province expects total GDP to increase by 6 percent to 6.5 percent, exceeding 10 trillion yuan; local general public budget revenues to increase by 6-6.5 percent, fixed asset investment to increase by 9 percent; the total retail sales of consumer goods to increase by 8.5 percent; the total volume of imports and exports to increase by about 3 percent; and to create 1.1 million new jobs in urban areas. 

The province will fully promote the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the implementation of one-stop customs clearance, and the establishment of the international commercial bank of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It will actively strive for the expansion of the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone.

The province will cultivate world-class advanced manufacturing clusters, such as electronic information, green petrochemicals, automobiles, smart home appliances, and robots; and launch the 5G network in the Pearl River Delta cities. It will support the construction of 50 provincial-level modern agro-industrial industrial parks, complete basic rehabilitation tasks for rural human settlements before the end of the year, and cultivate more than 50,000 new-type professional farmers.

The province will also focus on service industries, such as information, pension, education and medicine, and develop online shopping, telemedicine and new retail.