Guangdong's GDP hit $1 trillion in 2013

The Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission estimates the gross domestic product of the province will have increased 8.5 percent in 2013, which would make it the first province in China with annual GDP of more than 6 trillion yuan ($1 trillion), comparable to the level of Mexico and Indonesia in 2012.

The statistics were from a report of the China Business News on Thursday.

However, some analysts attribute the province's fast rise of GDP in terms of US dollars partially to the appreciation of the yuan against the dollar. Also, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan and Dongguan contribute to 70 percent of the provincial GDP, while the other 12 cities in the west and north of Guangdong have been less-developed for a long time.

Although Guangdong's 2012 GDP of $942 billion was comparable to that of South Korea in the same year, the average per capita GDP of Guangdong was only $8,931, the same level as Romania, which ranked 52nd in the world.

Despite fluctuations in trade in 2013, Guangdong's total export-import volume still grew by 7.5 percent year-on-year, exceeding $1 trillion.

In 2013, the added value of the service sector in Guangdong is expected to be 3 trillion yuan, surpassing that of secondary industry. Guangdong will continue to restructure its industries to improve the role of the service sector.

Private investment and the private economy both grew faster than fixed asset investment in Guangdong in the past year.

Thanks to the robust rise of electronic commerce, the total retail sales of consumer goods in Guangdong exceeded 2.55 trillion yuan in 2013.

Guangdong provincial governor Zhu Xiaodan said consumption, investment and exports contributed 45.5 percent, 22.8 percent and 31.7 percent to the Guangdong economy before 2007, and now account for 54.4 percent, 43.7 percent and 1.9 percent.

Hu Gang, a researcher of management with Jinan University in the provincial capital city of Guangzhou, said: "Guangdong is still at a crucial stage of industrial restructuring. Hi-tech industries, the service sector and innovation need to make more contribution to its economic growth."

Tackling unbalanced development across the province is another pressing challenge for Guangdong.

Guangdong Party chief Hu Chunhua has vowed to make the west and north of Guangdong into new growth points, in addition to the Pearl River Delta.

The provincial government will invest 672 billion yuan on mainly infrastructure construction projects from 2013 to 2017 in the less-developed regions of Guangdong, to lay the foundation for their economic rise.