In the first half of 2017, Guangzhou's GDP grew at a faster rate than the country as a whole, ranking third of all cities in China.

From January to June, Guangzhou's GDP rose to 989 billion yuan ($147 billion), a year-on-year increase of 7.9 percent. China's GDP grew by 6.9 percent.

This March, Guangzhou launched the "IAB" initiative, aimed at developing emerging industries such as the new generation of information technology, artificial intelligence and biological medicine.

According to statistics, the production value of high and new-technology products in Guangzhou has risen rapidly, accounting for 46.4 percent of the city's industrial output.

With the construction of the Foxconn 10.5-generation panel plant and the Cisco (Guangzhou) Smart City project pushing forward, the production of photoelectron components and mobile communication base station equipment has increased by 97.9 percent and 77.3 percent respectively.

Similarly, after iFLY TEK and AsiaInfo Technology settled in Guangzhou, the production of industrial robots has increased by 31.4 percent, and with the GE Biotechnology Park and BeiGene Bio-pharmacy project starting construction in Guangzhou, medical instruments and equipment production has increased 18.1 percent.

In terms of investment, fixed-assets worth a total of 229.4 billion yuan were invested in Guangzhou in the first half year, an increase of 8.6 percent compared with the same period in 2016. A total of 67.6 billion yuan has been invested in a total of 260 key projects.

In the first half year, Guangzhou has certified 2,998 high and new technology enterprises. The number of invention patents applied for and granted in Guangzhou increased by 29.8 percent and 29.7 percent respectively. Nearly 800 new market entities emerged in the city every day.

In terms of foreign trade, the total import and export value in the first half of the year reached 504.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31.4 percent. 

Guangzhou's GDP hits 989 billion yuan ($147 billion) in the first half year. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]