Delta to contribute 20% to China's GDP
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-11-04 14:41

In the first three quarters alone, the area reported 1.97 trillion yuan (US$240 billion) of GDP, making up 21.2 percent of the country's total, said a source with National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) at an ongoing meeting on the coordinated economic development in the Yangtze River Delta in Shanghai.

This is close to the region's total GDP generated in 2003, said Wang Yiming, vice president of the commission's macro-economy institute.

Wang acknowledged the Yangtze delta posted 2 trillion yuan (US$241 billion) of GDP last year, or 19.5 percent of the country's total.

The Yangtze River Delta, which refers to Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai Municipality, is playing an increasingly vital role in China's overall economic growth, particularly in the globalization and industrialization processes, Wang said.

He went on to say that the region has replaced the Pearl River Delta in South China's Guangdong Province as the largest recipient of foreign capital.

In 2002, the Pearl River Delta used US$11.3 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI), a five-percent decline over the previous year, he said, quoting Ministry of Commerce statistics.

In comparison, the Yangtze River Delta utilized US$17.5 billion of FDI, up 30.7 percent year-on-year.

"And the trend is still going on," said Wang.

Ministry of Commerce statistics show the Yangtze River Delta covers only one percent of China's total land and six percent of its population, but accounts for 35 percent of the country's total export and 48 percent of the overseas investment.

The Yangtze River Delta is one of China's three leading city clusters, the other two being the Pearl River Delta in the south and the area along the Bohai Bay rim in the north.

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