Guangdong province, which has traditionally been a reliable driver of China’s economic growth, continues to lag behind the national average in gross domestic product (GDP), due to an unresolved crisis in the real estate market and uneven performance among cities. The gap is widening further.
The GDP growth rate in the southern region for the first three quarters was 3.4%, 1.4 percentage points lower than the national rate of 4.8%.
This was a larger difference than the 1.1 percentage point deficit observed in the first six months, when the state recorded 3.9% growth compared to the national growth of 5%.
Retail sales also increased by 0.7%, up slightly from the 1.2% increase in the first half.
“Guangdong’s poor performance shows the negative impact of the real estate crisis,” said Guo Wanda, deputy director of the China Development Institute, a Shenzhen-based think tank.
“Technology-oriented Shenzhen is doing well, but upstream and downstream real estate and cities that rely more on traditional manufacturing, such as Guangzhou and Foshan, are slowing down.”