China growth goes west on the back of regional rail spending
- Report finds small cities in the country’s central and west provinces surging ahead but weakening conditions could signal slowdown ahead
Nearly two decades after China introduced a strategy aimed at boosting the economies of its central and western regions, a new report shows growth momentum has finally started to move from the eastern seaboard to the inner provinces.
California think tank the Milken Institute is due to release its annual report on best-performing cities in China on Wednesday and co-author Perry Wong, the institute’s managing director of research, said small cities in central and western regions were benefiting from the country’s investment drive in mass transport.
The ranking, which considers third-tier cities in a separate category from first and second tier ones, incorporates nine indicators, including one-year and five-year job and wage growth, gross regional product per capita growth and foreign direct investment. Wong said the results therefore did not show which city was best performing in terms of a direct comparison on GDP.
“Overall increases in investment and enhancing the high-speed rail, both in intra-province and inter-province links, are increasing interest in building manufacturing and technology parks in Sichuan,” the report said.