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Mandy Zuo

China’s largest export hub was among the country’s worst-performing local economies in 2024, as the region missed its growth target for a third consecutive year.
The southern province of Guangdong, which accounts for about one-tenth of China’s economic output, saw its gross domestic product grow 3.5 per cent last year, its provincial statistics bureau said on Saturday.
The growth rate was the fifth-slowest among China’s 31 provincial jurisdictions, with only Yunnan, Qinghai, Heilongjiang and Shanxi – regions considered less developed than Guangdong – failing to top its result.
The figure was also well below China’s national GDP growth rate of 5 per cent for 2024.
Guangdong’s export machine still appears to be performing well, with the province recording robust growth in trade in 2024, but its economy has been hit hard by China’s persisting real estate slump and weak consumption.
The province has set a growth target of 5 per cent for 2025, but many wonder where new growth will come from given the uncertainties in the external environment.




Investment in Guangdong’s housing sector was down 18.2 per cent last year from 2023, while sales of new homes plunged by 21.8 per cent in floor space terms, the bureau said.
The province is home to several large property developers mired in severe financial difficulties, including Evergrande and Country Garden.
The fate of another major Guangdong developer, Shenzhen-based Vanke, has also been in question in recent weeks, as its share price dropped to record lows amid rumours that its CEO, Zhu Jiusheng, had been taken away by the police.
On Monday, the firm said that Zhu had resigned from the position and other titles at the company for health reasons. Yu Liang, its board chairman, also stepped down from the position but will remain a board member and executive vice-president, Vanke said.
Guangdong also saw retail sales grow a paltry 0.8 per cent, in line with the weak consumption figures recorded elsewhere in China last year.
However, the province witnessed a 9.8 per cent increase in trade, as the region accounted for over one-fifth of the country’s total imports and exports, data suggested.
Guangdong’s exports grew by 8.4 per cent and imports increased by 12.5 per cent.
Shenzhen, a megacity renowned as a tech hub, was a rare bright spot for Guangdong’s economy last year. The city reported a 16.4 per cent increase in trade from 2023, with exports up 14.6 per cent.
Retail sales in Shenzhen rose 1.1 per cent, year on year – better than the contractions recorded in Beijing and Shanghai last year, but far below the 7.8 per cent growth the southern city recorded in 2023.
On Sunday, Shenzhen reported a GDP growth rate of 5.8 per cent for 2024, while Guangzhou, the provincial capital, announced an expansion of just 2.1 per cent a day later.
Though Guangdong has retained its status as China’s largest provincial economy, the region faces “a complex and severe situation with increasing external pressure and increasing internal difficulties”, according to the provincial statistics bureau.
The bureau said that the local real estate market was still “adjusting”, but stressed that “the decline in related indicators has narrowed, indicating that policies have played a positive role in promoting the real estate market to stop falling and stabilise”.


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Guangzhou, capital of southern China’s Guangdong province, saw its economy grow by just 2.1 per cent in 2024. Photo: Xinhua

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Southern economic hub reports GDP growth of 3.5 per cent in 2024, the fifth-slowest rate among China’s 31 provincial jurisdictions


Southern economic hub reports GDP growth of 3.5 per cent in 2024, the fifth-slowest rate among China’s 31 provincial jurisdictions.
