China's Guangdong targets 2023 GDP growth of over 5 pct

A staff member works at a microwave oven factory in Foshan City, south China's Guangdong Province, April 1, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Jiale)

GUANGZHOU, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's economic powerhouse Guangdong Province has set a GDP growth target of at least 5 percent for 2023, Guangdong governor Wang Weizhong said on Thursday.

The province's 2022 GDP is estimated at 12.8 trillion yuan (about 1.9 trillion U.S. dollars), Wang said as he delivered the government work report at the annual session of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress.

A leading foreign trade player in China and a manufacturing hub, Guangdong accounted for about one-tenth of China's GDP in 2021, the largest among all provincial-level regions in China.

Guangdong's foreign trade volume is expected to grow by 3 percent year on year in 2023 after totaling 8.3 trillion yuan in 2022, the work report said.

It also sets out 2023 goals for other major economic indicators for Guangdong, including 8 percent for fixed-asset investment, 6 percent for total retail sales of consumer goods, and at least 5.5 percent for value-added industrial output.

Further advancing the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) has been highlighted in the province's agenda for 2023, which pledges to accelerate the building of a "digital GBA."

The province also aims to accelerate the development of its digital economy and expand its 5G network to cover most of its rural and urban areas in 2023, according to the report.

It will push forward the digital transformation of 5,000 industrial enterprises above a designated size, referring to industrial firms with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan.

Guangdong has been vigorously promoting the digital transformation of its leading manufacturing companies, while building Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan and Dongguan into demonstration cities for the digital transformation of manufacturing, according to Guangdong's department of industry and information technology.