Growth Targets of 21 Local Governments in China Set Above 6%... Hainan's 9% Driven by 'Duty-Free Shop Boom'

Among China's 31 provincial-level local governments, 21 have set their GDP growth targets for this year at 6% or higher.

According to Hong Kong Ming Pao on the 13th, all 31 local governments in China, including Tianjin, announced their growth targets for this year the day before.

The highest target was set by Hainan, at 9%. This target takes into account the special demand from duty-free shops. Last year, Hainan's duty-free shop sales are expected to exceed 60 billion yuan (approximately 11.3 trillion KRW). Based on this, Hainan set its duty-free shop sales target for this year at 100 billion yuan (approximately 18.849 trillion KRW).

Including Hainan, nine regions set their growth targets at 7% or higher this year. Twelve regions, including Shanxi, set targets between 6% and less than 7%. Hubei Province, which ranked first nationwide last year with an economic growth rate of 12.9%, set its growth target at 7% this year. Ten regions, including Beijing and Tianjin, announced targets of '5 to 5.5% or higher.' China's three major economic centers?Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shandong?also set their targets at 5.5% each.

Among the 31 provinces, only three?Xizang (Tibet, 8%), Ningxia (7%), and Henan (7%)?set their targets higher than last year's economic growth rates.

The Chinese government sets the national growth target based on the targets of local governments. While the market expects the Chinese government to announce an economic growth target of around 5% at the National People's Congress next month, some believe that China may find it difficult to achieve a growth rate in the 5% range this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.