Recently, the economic data of various provinces in the first half of the year have been disclosed one after another. Chongqing and Tibet topped the list with a growth rate of 10.6%. The growth rate of 21 provinces and cities was higher than the national growth rate of 6.7% in the second quarter. Beijing, Shanghai, and Jilin were on par with the national growth rate.
Liaoning, Shanxi and Heilongjiang, which had the lowest growth rates in the first quarter, have suspended the release of GDP data. As of now, Liaoning and Heilongjiang have not officially disclosed data. However, The Paper found on the official website of the Dalian Bureau of Statistics that Liaoning’s total GDP in the first half of the year was 1,281.26 billion yuan, with a GDP growth rate of -1%. It is still the only region in the country with negative growth.
Chongqing, Tibet and Guizhou are all in the western region with growth rates exceeding 10%. Zhu Baoliang, director of the Economic Forecasting Department of the National Information Center, believes that the high growth rates are mainly in some southwestern regions, while the slowdown in GDP growth in the eastern region, which is undergoing transformation, has a far greater impact on the overall economy of the country than the western region. Tianjin and Jiangsu in the eastern region ranked among the top ten with first-half GDP growth rates of 9.2% and 8.2% respectively, but Beijing, Shanghai, and Hebei did not outperform the national GDP growth rate in the first half.
(Note: Heilongjiang has not released data, tabulated by Political and Business Reading (ID: zsyd88))
Suffering from the decline of traditional industrial industries, Liaoning experienced negative quarterly GDP growth in the first quarter of this year for the first time in 35 years. According to data from the official website of Dalian Municipal Bureau of Statistics, in the first half of 2016, Liaoning Province’s total GDP was 1.28126 billion yuan, with a year-on-year GDP growth rate of -1%. Compared with the -1.3% growth rate in the first quarter, there was a slight improvement in the second quarter but the negative growth trend has not been reversed. In the past two years, Liaoning Finance Government revenue showed a cliff-like decline, with the growth rates of fixed asset investment and real estate development investment in the first half of the year being -58.10% and -31.50%. Shanxi’s GDP growth rate in the second quarter, which had previously been suspended, was only 3.4%. The People’s Daily mentioned in today’s article that as of the end of July, the coal industry’s annual task of reducing overcapacity was 38%, and the overall progress was not satisfactory. Under the pressure of economic downturn, Shanxi’s leading industry, coal demand, has not completed the overcapacity reduction, and its economic development is naturally facing severe challenges.
According to the Overseas Edition of People’s Daily, Zhu Baoliang, director of the Economic Forecasting Department of the State Information Center, believes that the general service industry in the eastern region accounts for a relatively high proportion, the proportion of manufacturing has begun to decline, and the industry is undergoing transformation.与此同时，增速高的主要是西南部一些地区，这些地方工业增长快，往往GDP增速就比较高。而东部地区GDP增速放缓对全国整体经济的影响远大于西部地区。 Zhang Ziran, an associate researcher at the Growth Office of the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also pointed out, "It has been difficult for eastern cities to increase the potential growth rate of GDP by increasing labor, while the increase in labor growth in central and western cities can still effectively increase their potential growth rate." People's Daily quoted Zhang Fumin, deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, as saying that supply-side structural reform has become the main line of Chongqing's economic development. From January to May, the operating income of new service-related enterprises above designated size in Chongqing increased by 24.5% year-on-year; new generation information technology services achieved a 21.8% increase in business tax collection; biotechnology services increased by 57.0%; new energy and new material technology services increased by 49.0%; and e-commerce development has also begun to bear fruit.
The National Development and Reform Commission believes that in the first half of the year, the regional economic operation has generally remained stable and made progress, showing the characteristics of "stabilizing and improving in the east, basically stable in the central part, stable and rising in the west, and slowing down in the northeast." New highlights in regional development continue to emerge: the development of new economies and new business formats is accelerating; mass entrepreneurship and innovation continue to advance; supply-side structural reforms are advanced in depth; the private economy in some areas is accelerating. The growth rate of private investment in Guangdong reached 19.6% in the first half of the year, exceeding the province's fixed asset investment growth rate by 6.1 percentage points.
ANNA