China's economic powerhouses, including Shanghai and South China's Guangdong province, released their "report cards" for 2023 and their respective goals for GDP growth in 2024, showcasing significant progress in industrial upgrading and an increase in foreign investment. Shanghai set a new record in actual foreign investment utilization in 2023, while Guangdong's GDP surpassed CNY13 trillion, almost reaching the scale of Brazil in 2022. Shanghai's GDP expanded by 5% year-on-year in 2023 and the city saw the actual use of foreign capital hit a record high of USD24 billion as it remained the top choice for multinational enterprises, Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng announced in the city's government work report. Shanghai also attracted another 65 regional headquarters of multinationals and 30 more foreign-funded research and development centers in 2023. New growth drivers and strategic emerging industries developed steadily in Shanghai. The scale of three leading industries – integrated circuits, biopharmaceuticals and artificial intelligence (AI) – reached CNY1.6 trillion. The number of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) in Shanghai reached 1.29 million, ranking first among global cities. The number of high-tech enterprises in Shanghai now exceeds 24,000.
The GDP of Guangdong province grew by 4.8% year-on-year to CNY13.57 trillion in 2023, topping the country for the 35th consecutive year. As a manufacturing heartland and leading foreign trade player in the country, Guangdong accounted for about one-tenth of China's GDP in 2023. High-tech development has been a driving force for the province, with investment in high-tech manufacturing growing by 22.2% year-on-year and that of advanced manufacturing increasing by 18.2%. With more than 71,000 large-scale industrial enterprises and more than 75,000 high-tech enterprises, Guangdong leads the nation in both categories. Jiangsu province reported GDP growth of 5.8% to CNY12.82 trillion, while Zhejiang province saw its GDP expand by 6% in 2023 with the actual use of foreign capital up by 4.8%.
According to data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), China's foreign capital usage exceeded CNY1.13 trillion in 2023, with sources from high-tech industries reaching a record high. “China now is attracting capital from all over the world, not only from the Western world. So we see a lot of, for example, Middle Eastern money moving to China in a big way for diversification and to seize different opportunities,” Rani Jarkas, Chairman of Swiss financial firm Cedrus Group, told the Global Times.
The economic powerhouses also announced their GDP targets for 2024 at 5% to 5.5%, leading experts to believe that the country may set its overall GDP growth target at about 5%. Based on the plans of various provinces for 2024, the economically developed provinces are focusing on strategic emerging industries and industries of the future, forming what is known as new productive forces, Hu Qimu, Deputy Secretary General of the digital-real economies integration Forum 50, the Global Times reports. Two more cities in China – Changzhou in Jiangsu province and Yantai in Shandong province – joined the trillion yuan city club when they announced their GDP exceeded CNY1 trillion each in 2023, taking the total number of such cities to 26. Jiangsu has highest number of trillion-yuan cities in China.
