The economy of south China's Guangdong Province continued to maintain steady growth in the first quarter this year, with no signs of overheating.

At a recent press conference, local officials said that Guangdong's economy had maintained stable yet rapid development in recent years, and the first quarter performance will help the province to better achieve its GDP growth by 9 percent this year.

"After an increase of 14.1 percent GDP growth last year, the quality of growth this year is being given more emphasis," said Pu Xinmin, director of the Guangdong Provincial Statistics Bureau.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of Guangdong, the economic powerhouse in South China, totaled about 612.6 billion yuan (US$78.5 billion) in the first quarter, an increase of 13 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the provincial statistics authority.

The province generated 2.6 trillion yuan (US$332.8 billion) in GDP last year, accounting for one- eighth of the national total, and it has set a GDP goal of 9 percent increase this year.

"The efficiency of the economy and living standards have improved as consumption, investment and exports maintained relatively rapid growth thanks to the efficient macro-control policies of the government," Pu said.

He said the province's primary, secondary and tertiary sectors reported a respective 27.83 billion yuan (US$3.56 billion), 311.62 billion yuan (US$39.9 billion), 273.13 billion yuan (US$35.1 billion) in added value.

"The efficiency of energy consumption in heavy industrial corporations has been greatly improved as supplies of coal, electricity and petroleum have remained stable," Pu said.

In another development, Guangdong realized fixed-asset investments of more than 146.7 billion yuan (US$18.8 billion) in the first quarter, up 19 percent over the same period last year, according to statistics.

Fixed-asset development in the real estate sector also maintained steady growth, with investments climbing to more than 40.8 billion yuan (US$5.2 billion) in the past three months, accounting for 27.8 percent of total investments.

"The increase in fixed-asset investments in the real estate sector, an increase of 28.1 percent as compared to the same period of last year, will help provide more affordable houses for local residents," Pu said.

He said available housing totaled more than 10 million square meters in the first three months, up 13.3 percent over the same period last year.

Increased consumption and the rising trade surplus have also become strong engines for rapid economic development.

In the first quarter, Guangdong generated 260 billion yuan (US$33.3 billion) in consumption, and more than US$131 billion in trade volume, up 15.8 percent and 23.9 percent respectively as compared to the same period last year.

"With the strong increase in momentum, Guangdong will likely surpass Taiwan this year in economic development," said Zhang Changsheng, an economic researcher with the Guangdong Provincial Situation Research Centre.

"Guangdong has seen robust economic development in recent years and it contributed one-eighth of the country's total GDP last year," Zhang said.

"If the interest rate of the yuan continues to rise this year, Guangdong's economy will surely surpass that of Taiwan, becoming the largest economic entity in the nation."

However, Zhang was more concerned about the per capita income rise of residents.

The province realized an urban per capita income of 5,283 yuan (US$677) in the first quarter, while the rural per capita income was 1,716 yuan (US$220), the increase rate of both lower than the GDP growth rate.

"Guangdong should attach more importance to how to increase income of the common people as the per capita income rate is even lower than the nation's average," Zhang told China Daily.

The researcher attributed Guangdong's low per capita income to the provincial government's "relatively unbalanced" strategy in economic development in recent years.

"The provincial government has placed too much emphasis on industrial development, but has not outlined its strategy on how to improve the incomes of rural and urban residents," Zhang said.

However, Chen Mingjin, vice-director of the Guangdong general investigation office of the National Bureau of Statistics, said the relatively low increase in per capita income in Guangdong was normal.

"The province has invested more in agriculture, medical, educational and social welfare to benefit rural and urban residents in recent years. These sums of money were not calculated in the per capita income growth," Chen said.

In addition, the high birth rate in Guangdong, which currently has more than 90 million people, is also partly responsible for the slow increase in per capita income, Chen said.

(China Daily April 26, 2007)