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China’s regional economies echo national slowdown in face of ‘grim, complex’ outlook, coronavirus outbreaks

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China’s regional economies echo national slowdown in face of ‘grim, complex’ outlook, coronavirus outbreaks
Published in 4 November, 2021
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Sporadic coronavirus outbreaks and a “grim and complex” external environment continued to weigh on China’s regional economic growth rates during the first three quarters of the year with almost two thirds falling below the national average.

A total of 20 of China’s 31 provincial-level jurisdictions failed to achieve the national average of a 9.8 per cent growth rate in the January-September period. This is the same ratio as seen in the first half of 2021, but double the level seen at the end of last year.

The regional slowdown echoes the national trend after China’s overall economic growth slowed to 4.9 per cent in the third quarter.

The autonomous region of Tibet was the last to confirm its growth figure on Monday, with its economy growing by 7.2 per cent from a year ago in the first three quarters of 2021, adding to the list of provinces to fall below the national average.

The economic growth rate of most provinces has not returned to the pre-pandemic level … the re-emerged [coronavirus] outbreaks this year have caused a certain impact
Liang Jing

Regional disparities also remained as coastal export hubs continued to surge ahead due to surprisingly strong exports, while Western areas are now struggling, posing a challenge for Beijing’s efforts to build a new pole of growth as the country is trying to shift to an economy based on spending by its 1.4 billion consumers.

“The economic growth rate of most provinces has not returned to the pre-pandemic level … the re-emerged [coronavirus] outbreaks this year have caused a certain impact,” Bank of China analyst Liang Jing said last week.

In terms of the two-year average growth rate – a measurement used by China’s statistics bureau to reduce the distortion caused by the coronavirus – 27 provinces have registered a lower expansion pace compared with the same period in 2019.

Guangdong, the southern Chinese manufacturing and trade hub, remains the largest economy in the country after the province’s economy grew by 9.7 per cent from a year earlier to 8.8 trillion yuan (US$1.4 trillion) in the first nine months of the year.

Read more in South China Morning Post