On January 25th, the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Statistics officially announced that the GDP of Guangzhou in 2023 reached 3,035.573 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%, according to the unified calculation of Guangdong Province's GDP.
In the face of complex and ever-changing domestic and international challenges and the pressure of transitioning between old and new growth drivers, what has enabled Guangzhou to achieve an economic output of 3 trillion yuan?
Economic stability relies on resilience
Thanks to its resilience, Guangzhou's economy has steadily recovered under pressure over the past year.
Faced with the pressure of transitioning between old and new growth drivers, market entities have risen to the challenge. By the end of December 2023, the total number of market entities in the city reached 3.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%, with additional market entities of over 1.34 million established throughout the year. The number of Fortune 500 companies increased from four to six.
Industrial companies with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan, qualified constructors, wholesale and retail businesses with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan, accommodation and catering companies with an annual main business income of two million yuan or more, real estate operators, and service companies with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan serve as important pillars of economic operation. The cultivation of all these entities has shown continuous results. Throughout the year, 1,704 new enterprises of the above standards were established, a year-on-year increase of 13.1%.
Among them, the resilience of the private economy has strengthened, and private industrial enterprises with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan have signaled stabilization ahead of the overall industrial sector in the city. Since June of the previous year, their output growth rate has been consistently positive, with a 7.1% increase for the whole year, becoming the main driving force behind industrial growth in Guangzhou.
On the other end of production lies demand. In 2023, Guanzghou's total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 1.1 trillion yuan, surpassing the one trillion yuan mark for three consecutive years. The coordinated efforts of supply and demand have emerged as the greatest source of stability for Guangzhou's economic operation.
Cultivating new productive forces relies on innovation
Behind the numbers lies the continuous optimization and enhancement of economic structure and quality, leading to the emergence of "new quality productive power."
Guangzhou has made significant progress in its automobile and biopharmaceutical industries, producing over 650,000 new energy vehicles in 2023 and expanding into new territories.
The integration of productive services and advanced manufacturing has further shaped Guangzhou's competitive advantage. In 2023, the added value of productive services reached 1.26 trillion yuan, accounting for 56.6% of the tertiary industry.
As the information technology revolution advances, 16 digital cultural industries, including gaming, animation, new media entertainment, and entertainment smart device manufacturing, continue to grow at a double-digit pace, effectively driving the steady recovery of the city's cultural industry.
Driven by technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and digital integration, these new quality productive forces are gradually gathering momentum, serving as the solid foundation for Guangzhou's leadership in high-quality development.
Elevating development relies on economic vitality
In 2023, Guangzhou witnessed an accelerating traffic flow and an increasing capital flow.
The value added by the financial industry increased by 7.5% year-on-year, providing good support for economic growth. By the end of December 2023, the balance of local and foreign currency loans of financial institutions in the city reached 16.33 trillion yuan.
There is an increasing convergence of finance, technologies and industries. By the end of 2023, there were 231 listed companies in the city, with over half of them being high-tech enterprises. This helps lay the foundation for the construction of a financial ecosystem that supports the development of a modern industrial system.
Regarding passenger flow, the total passenger volume exceeded 300 million in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 76.3%. Among them, Baiyun Airport served 63.1735 million passengers, ranking first among all airports in China for four consecutive years.
Driven by the surge in popularity, the value added by transportation, warehousing, and postal services increased by 12.2% year-on-year. Investments in transportation, warehousing, and postal services have exceeded 100 billion yuan for five consecutive years.
Today, standing on the new threshold of GDP surpassing 3 trillion yuan, Guangzhou has enhanced its hub advantages. It is bound to attract more investors and high-end resource elements, helping transform more urban traffic into economic growth.