South China's Guangdong Province reported a doubled GDP (gross domestic product) during the past five years, according to a report of the provincial statistical bureau.

Guangdong achieved a GDP of 2.17 trillion yuan (US$264.8 billion) in 2005, up by 12.5 percent on a year-on-year base.

The bureau source said it was the first time that Guangdong's GDP exceeded 2 trillion yuan (US$250 billion), just five years after the province reported 1 trillion yuan of GDP.

The economic growth in Guangdong is mainly contributed to three factors, including consumption, investment and export, said insiders.

In 2005, the gross retail volume of consumer goods in Guangdong amounted to 788.3 billion yuan (US$98.5 billion), increasing by 15 percent over the previous year.

The bureau source said as individual's income grows, the aggregate bank savings of the residents surpassed two trillion yuan (US$250 billion) in 2005, growing by 134 percent over 2000.

Big increase in overseas investment inflow

The inflow of overseas investment in Guangdong Province totaled US$12.68 billion last year, a year-on-year rise of 26.6 percent.

The growth range was 27.1 percentage points more than the national average for the same year.

Contractual overseas investment on the service trade last year made up US$5.93 billion or one quarter of the provincial total.

So far, 176 of the world's top 500 multinationals have built 581 ventures in this southern Chinese province.

Service trade becomes vital factor

The service trade has become a vital factor behind economic growth in Guangdong.

Latest statistics from the Guangdong Provincial Statistical Bureau show in the past year, 36.9 percent of the rise in the gross domestic product (GDP) of the province, or 4.6 percentage points of the province's economic growth, was made by the service trade.

The real estate sector alone completed 122.86 billion yuan (US$15.15 billion) in added value in 2005, accounting for 12.8 percent of the total added value done by the entire service trade.

Leading nation for number of brand-name commodities & high-tech commodity export

Guangdong ranked first in the country for export of hi-tech commodities last year.

The province exported 83.58 billion U.S. dollars worth of hi-tech commodities in 2005, accounting for 35 percent of the province's total export or the national total hi-tech export.

In the meantime, hi-tech manufacturing businesses of scale -- referring to a business with annual sales over 5 million yuan (US$616,523) -- in the province fulfilled 1.05 trillion yuan in output value last year, a rise of 24.7 percent from 2004.

Guangdong also ranked first in the country in terms of the volume of brand-name commodities.

165 kinds of commodities had won the titles of "brand-name product of China" by 2005, accounting for 17.8 percent of the national total.

The province is now home to 17 state-level industrial bases with special features and 159 specialized industrial towns.

Editor: Yan