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China’s Guangdong GDP for 2021 set to top that of South Korea and most other countries

  • Southern manufacturing powerhouse is not only China’s largest regional economy, it would likely rank among the top 10 global economies if it were a country
  • Annual gross domestic product in Guangdong province grew by 8 per cent, year on year, to 12.4 trillion yuan

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Guangdong province saw its gross domestic product grow by 8 per cent in 2021 from a year earlier. Photo: Xinhua

The economy of China’s southern manufacturing powerhouse of Guangdong likely surpassed that of South Korea for the first time in 2021, and if the provincial economy were that of a country, it would rank in the top 10 globally, according to official local data.

China’s largest regional economy has also doubled down on the nation’s “common prosperity” strategy, which calls for a more even distribution of wealth.

Guangdong’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 8 per cent from a year earlier to 12.4 trillion yuan last year, or US$1.92 trillion based on the official annual average exchange rate, according to the local government’s annual work report, which was released in full on the province’s official website on Monday.

That means Guangdong’s annual economic size could be larger than the expected US$1.82 trillion of South Korea, and only moderately lower than the estimated US$2 trillion of Canada, according to forecasts by the International Monetary Fund.

The provincial reading came after China said last week that the national economic growth rate was 8.1 per cent for 2021, which beat expectations and the government’s target of “above 6 per cent”.
Guangdong’s local GDP has topped all other provincial-level jurisdictions in the world’s second-largest economy for more than three decades. And in that time, thanks to advantages in terms of its policies and geographic location, the region adjacent to Hong Kong has transformed from an agricultural backwater to the nation’s leader in technological innovations. It has also carved out a critical role as a global trade hub.
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