Economy roars onward
Involvement of foreign firms and European crisis could have effect on city's rapid progress.
While global growth continues to sputter, and even China's vaunted economic engine slowed to 7.6 per cent growth in the second quarter of the year, Wuhan's economy continues to soar.
Industrial investment in the first seven months topped 91 billion yuan (HK$111 billion), up a staggering 59 per cent year-on-year. GDP was also up 12 per cent last year to 676.22 billion yuan, making Wuhan one of China's top-10 growth stories.
Local industry continues to benefit from the government's 2010 Wuhan Industry Doubling Plan, which calls for total industrial output to grow by 13 per cent per year, with a goal of 1.5 trillion yuan by 2015. To accomplish this goal, the city "will give priority to [its goal to] become the industrial and manufacturing centre for the telecommunication, automotive, manufacture, food, steel and petroleum industries," says Zhong Zhidong, the Wuhan branch manager of Societe Generale China.
Building on its traditional strengths, state-owned-enterprises, such as the Wuhan Iron and Steel Group and the Wuhan Boiler Company, continue to dominate the local economy. Other key players include the China Aviation Industry Corporation, Lenovo and General Motors, which recently broke ground on a new 7 billion yuan manufacturing base slated for annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles by 2015.
Foreign firms play an important role in the local company and historical ties to France continue to yield fruit, such as Peugeot's joint venture with Dongfeng Automotive and Societe Generale's long-term presence in the city.
"Wuhan may be affected by the European debt crisis" as European firms face crises in their home territories, cautions Jerry Cao, an assistant professor of finance at Singapore Management University.