GDP in South China's Guangdong Province will surpass 10 trillion yuan ($1.45 trillion) this year for the first time, Ma Xingrui, deputy secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and governor of Guangdong, told a press conference on Monday.
Ma said China has undergone tremendous changes and achieved remarkable progress since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, with Guangdong a classic example of its enormous development.
Guangdong's GDP rose from 2.03 billion yuan in 1949 to 9.73 trillion yuan in 2018 and is set to pass the 10 trillion yuan threshold this year, Ma added.
The southern province is also the first province in China with general public fiscal revenues of 1 trillion yuan. It has made strides in opening up, increasing foreign trade last year to 7.16 trillion yuan, or about a quarter of the China’s total, maintaining the top ranking it has held in the country for 33 consecutive years. The province’s total actual use of foreign funds was $447 billion, some 20 percent of the country’s total.
Guangdong is becoming a world-class manufacturing base with a sound, comprehensive modern industrial system, home to 47,500 industrial enterprises above designated size.
It has gradually built a comprehensive transportation network as expressways and high-speed trains link all counties and cities. Its urbanization is now 70.7 percent as modern city clusters continue to rise across the province.
Local life expectancy increased to 77.2 years and the income of urban and rural residents continues to grow, with absolute poverty eliminated.
"Guangdong's achievements today are due to advantages in institutions, the political system, and reform and opening up," said Ma.
