China’s provincial GDPs show widening gap between coastal and inland regions, as second-half economic concerns loom

Economy of manufacturing powerhouse Guangdong expanded by 13 per cent in the first half of this year, with a nearly 27 per cent increase in exports despite port delays in May

Five major coastal provinces contributed to 36.5 per cent of the national output in the first half of this year, slightly higher than the 36.2 per cent in pre-pandemic year of 2019

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Workers make face masks at a factory in Fujian province. Exports helped power economic growth in coastal provinces, including Fujian, from January to June. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 6:56pm, 23 Jul 2021Updated: 7:07pm, 23 Jul 2021

The disparities in provincial growth across China widened further during the past six months, with the economies in coastal regions surging ahead on the back of increased exports while northern and inland provinces continued lagging behind due to their dependency on slowing government investments, according to a Post analysis of new half-year provincial economic data.

The results contrast starkly with Beijing’s attempts to balance regional development while cultivating self-sufficient development strategies among individual provinces. They also come as concerns mount over a possible economic slowdown in China later this year, in part because analysts expect export growth to slow.

Those exports helped power economic growth in six coastal provinces – Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Shandong – from January to June.

Guangdong’s economic growth continued to lead the way among China’s 31 provincial-level jurisdictions, expanding 13 per cent from a year earlier to 5.72 trillion yuan (US$884 billion) in the first half, buoyed by a 26.9 per cent rise in exports. However, its economic pace was temporarily slowed by a coronavirus outbreak in May that resulted in a partial lockdown.

Using a two-year growth average, which the National Bureau of Statistics utilises to reduce coronavirus distortions, Guangdong’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth outpaced the national level by 0.2 percentage points in the first quarter. However, the province’s GDP grew by only 5 per cent in the first half, below the national level of 5.3 per cent.