Seven cities in China registered GDP of over 2 trillion yuan ($294.4 billion) in 2022, according to a report by media outlet Yicai on Jan 8.
These cities, namely Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Suzhou, and Chengdu, have all witnessed economic rebound in 2022 and are planning an even brighter future for 2023.
For example, Suzhou of East China's Jiangsu province expected its GDP to reach 2.4 trillion yuan in 2022, according to its government work report released on Jan 7. The city, with 13,400 high-tech companies, 340,000 high-level talents, and 241 listed companies in 2022, has set its 2023 economic growth target at 5 percent.
Chengdu of Southwest China's Sichuan province also announced at a news conference on Jan 3 that its GDP has surpassed 2 trillion yuan for the first time in 2022.
According to the government report of Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, the city expects a 4.5 percent GDP increase in 2022 to a total of 1.9 trillion yuan. Statistics also showed that Wuhan had 3,000 new high-tech enterprises, with fixed asset investment rising 11 percent during the past year.
Given a rebound in 2022, many cities with a GDP of over 1 trillion yuan have set 2023 growth target at around 5 to 7 percent, much higher than their 2022 growth.
For instance, Fuzhou in East China's Fujian province, Hefei in East China's Anhui province, and Wuhan in Central China's Hubei province have all set GDP target at 6.5 percent in 2023.
Guangzhou and Suzhou, on the other hand, expect their GDP to grow 6 and 5 percent this year, respectively.
Given the comparatively low base in 2022, economic growth rate of the cities in 2023 will be significantly higher than that of 2022, as the optimization of pandemic prevention and control measures come into effect in December, said Peng Peng, executive chairman of the Guangdong Society of Economic Reform.
Boosting domestic consumption, as well as increasing investment in public facilities is important to economic rebound in 2023, Peng said.