Nansha’s economic performance in 2019

The Statistics Bureau of Guangzhou’s Nansha district recently released data of the district’s economic performance in 2019 online, revealing the scale of its economic development.

Last year, the gross domestic product (GDP) in Nansha exceeded 168.3 billion yuan ($23.76 billion), with an increase of 10.5 percent year-on-year. It became the only administrative unit in the city to maintain a double-digit growth of GDP.

The main driving forces were industrial output above designated size, construction output and income of profitable service industry. The three indicators jumped by 6.5 percent, 69.4 percent and 99.5 percent.

In the composition of output value, the transformation from old to new kinetic energy was obvious, and the tertiary industry accounted for more than half of the value for the first time.

The GDP amounts of the district’s primary, secondary, and tertiary industries were 5.61 billion yuan, 70.87 billion yuan and 91.84 billion yuan respectively, with proportions of 3.3 percent, 42.1 percent and 54.6 percent.

The Nansha New Area and the Nansha Free Trade Zone (FTZ) kept on rolling out favorable policies, helping the local financial industry, wholesale industry, and business service industry achieve considerable development.

As of the end of 2019, the district was home to more than 6,500 financial and pseudo-banking companies, a 52-fold growth since the Nansha FTZ was listed. There were 11 licensed financial institutions, one-fifth of the number in the whole city.

Consumption value reached 22.78 billion yuan, an increase of 9.1 percent year-on-year. The accommodation industry shone brightly with growth of 18 percent, which proved that the tourism driven by overnight stays in Nansha is  increasingly attractive.

However, one weak spot was net outflow. In 2019, the local export value was 98.28 billion yuan, and the total import value was 115.5 billion yuan.

The container throughput of Nansha Port was 16.76 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 7 percent, but the cargo throughput of the port has declined.

In 2019, the district achieved 258.67 billion yuan in output value of industrial enterprises above designated size. Among them, light industry accounted for 25.4 percent, and heavy industry for 74.6 percent.

Equipment and automobile manufacturing maintained double-digit growth. The output value of high-tech products reached 126.79 billion yuan last year, showing great potential. Products showing positive growth were automobiles, refined edible vegetable oils, household refrigerators and air conditioners.

Nansha maintained rapid development in terms of investment in fixed assets. Investment in real estate increased by 25 percent year-on-year.

The development of the real estate industry coincides with the population growth in Nansha. Authoritative figures show that the district has a resident population of 796,100, an increase of 44,400 compared with the end of 2018, placing it among the top three growth areas in the city.

Major projects also have great stimulus for fixed investment. Among Guangdong province’s key construction projects of 2020, 31 projects will be completed in Nansha, including the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Cross-river Tunnel, the Nansha-Zhongshan Expressway and the Guangzhou Nansha Port Railway.

Total investment in the above-mentioned projects surpassed 251.3 billion yuan; they will become new economic growth points this year.

As for foreign economic performance, the local contractual use of foreign capital last year exceeded $30 billion, an increase of 8.4 percent year-on-year, which can be attributed to a number of foreign investment cooperation projects.