By Yin Lei
The economic growths in the eastern and central provinces of China are beating the national average, with new economic growth drivers gaining prominence, as shown by a report from the Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday.
As of July 30, most of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government in China had released their economic indicators for the first half of 2018.
The five economic powerhouses in southeastern China, or the five provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Jiangsu plus the Shanghai Municipality, all beat the 6.8 percent national average. Respectively, their six-month GDP growth stood at 8.2 percent, 7.6 percent, 7.1 percent, 7.1 percent and 6.9 percent.
The five provinces in central China emerged as new growth engines with their impressive performances. The two provinces of Jiangxi and Anhui each saw a growth rate of 9.0 percent and 8.3 percent while Hubei, Hunan and Henan all registered an expansion of 7.8 percent.
Those in the western part of China staged mixed performances. Guizhou Province enjoyed a GDP growth of 10 percent while the Chongqing Municipality saw 6.5 percent, a 0.4 percentage point decline versus the first half of 2017.
New growth drivers had a heavier weight. In Zhejiang Province, for example, the digital economy, covering the internet, internet of things and big data, created a total added value of RMB 234.8 billion, up by 14.7 percent year-on-year.
For some other provinces, their reliance on the chemical industry, heavy industry and natural resources had weighed heavily on their economic growth as environment costs kept rising, as believed by Xiao Jincheng, an expert on regional economics.
Against the robust economic landscape, the increase in per capita income outpaced China’s GDP growth, shoring up consumption demand at home.
An expert of the National Bureau of Statistics, Wang Youjuan, calculated the six-month average per capita income at around RMB 14,000, a 6.6 percent year-on-year rise after adjusting for inflation.
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