Chinese economic powerhouses set less ambitious GDP goals for 2023
- Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces both predict their economic growths will be ‘above 5 per cent’ this year, after falling well short of last year’s targets amid zero-Covid
- As China looks to bounce back from challenging 2022, authorities of the manufacturing hubs vow to step up support for private sector and create jobs
With the country as a whole setting out to heal its Covid-ravaged economy after a difficult year, two of China’s economic powerhouses have set less ambitious targets for their economies in 2023 while still vowing to create jobs and support the private sector.
The provinces of Guangdong and Zhejiang – big manufacturing hubs where private firms are hallmarks of the local economies – both put their growth targets at “above 5 per cent” for this year after missing last year’s goals due to China’s hardline zero-Covid policy, according to the two provinces’ parliamentary meetings on Thursday.
As export hubs and major engines powering China’s economy, their gross domestic product (GDP) growth targets could help shed light on this year’s national economic growth goal, which the central government will announce during the national legislative gatherings in March.
“The [Zhejiang] government will exhaust all measures to push for export growth and work with enterprises in expanding external markets and securing more orders,” provincial authorities said in their report on Thursday.
They projected that Zhejiang’s GDP, which accounts for about 7 per cent of the national economy, grew by 3 per cent last year – or half of the 6 per cent goal that it had set for last year.