Most Populous Province Sees Rapid Economic GrowthHenan, China's most densely populated province registered a half-year economic growth of 9.5 percent over the same period of last year, up 1.6 percentage points from the country's average.It was the highest growth rate achieved by Henan Province over the past five years, sources with local authorities said. Henan's gross domestic product (GDP) stood at 260 billion yuan (31.3 billion U.S. dollars) from January to June, with the industrial sector contributing some 45 percent to the GDP value. State-owned and state holding industrial enterprises remained the main force behind the rally, triggering growth by 6.9 percentage points to the 12.4 percent growth of the whole sector. The coal industry went out of the red for the first time and reduced the deficit by 200 million yuan (24 million U.S. dollars), while metallurgical, petrochemical, medicine and other sectors continued to grow steadily. Exports from the province increased by 20.7 percent on an annual basis, with finished industrial products taking the lion's share of the total revenue. Fixed investment totaled 33 billion yuan or an annual increase of 21.8 percent. Most of the investment was channeled to infrastructure construction and refurbishing of equipment and facilities. Henan, the most populous province in central China, currently has 92.56 million people. |
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