Trade war sees China’s provinces slash growth forecasts for 2019
- Eight provinces have set lower GDP growth targets for this year
- A nationwide slowdown is a likely scenario as trade war starts to bite
From the coastal province of Jiangsu to central Henan, China’s provinces have downgraded their economic growth targets for 2019, as the cold reality of the trade war with the United States continues to bite.
As of today, 12 of China’s 31 province-level divisions had published their annual growth targets, with eight of them reducing their growth targets for the year, according to the South China Morning Post’s review of local government reports.
The country’s most populous province, Henan, home to the world’s largest iPhone factory, is now targeting gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.5 per cent, having previously aimed for around 7.5 per cent, according to the provincial government work report released on Wednesday.
Henan joined Jiangsu, a key export hub neighbouring Shanghai, Fujian on the west side of the Taiwan Strait and Anhui, an inland province downstream of the Yangtze River, in toning down their growth forecasts, reflecting the broad-based slowdown across China.
The capital region Beijing also set a lower target. It is now targeting growth in the 6 per cent to 6.5 per cent range, down from 6.5 per cent last year.
The northern industrial port of Tianjin, which was found to have inflated its growth figures in recent years, slashed its 2019 target to 4.5 per cent for 2019 from 5 per cent last year.