Guangzhou saw positive economic growth in the second quarter of 2020 although its GDP went down by 2.7 percent year on year in the first half (H1) of 2020 to 1096.829 billion yuan. It was boosted by recovering development of information service industry, financial industry and others.

(Photo by Nanfang Daily)

In detail, the added value of Guangzhou's primary, secondary and tertiary industry reached 11.617 billion yuan, 283.807 billion yuan and 801.405 billion yuan, with an increase of 4.4%, a decrease of 7% and a decrease of 0.8%, respectively, according to Feng Jun, deputy director of Guangzhou Statistics Bureau. Regarding the added value of the city's IT service industry and financial industry, they saw increases of 14.3% and 8.1%, respectively.

Emerging industries contributed a lot for the city's economic growth in H1, with the added value reached 289.768 billion-yuan, accounting for 26.4% of the city's GDP. For instance, the added value of IAB (information technology, AI and bio-technology) industry increased by 2.5%.

Guangzhou's fixed-asset investment increased by 1.5%, 8.9 percentage points higher than that in Q1, 2020. And its infrastructure investment increased by 4.7%, 8 percentage points higher than that in Q1.

As of now there are 183 new infrastructure projects under construction in the city, that is double over the same period last year, and the actual investment increased by 23.7%. Furthermore, Guangzhou has built 25,300 5G base stations.

Turning to foreign trade, the city's import and export volume was 425.36 billion yuan, with a decrease of 7.6%. Among them, exports went down 1.7% and the imports fell 13.8%. In its trade with the Belt and Road countries, the ASEAN, Oceanian countries and African countries volume rose by 8.3%, 21.7%, 15.1% and 5.4%, respectively.

According to the statistics bureau, Guangzhou will accelerate its economic development in the second half of the year due to the fast growth of a digital economy, new industries and further measures on epidemic prevention and control.

Author: Will

Editor: Jerry