SHENZHEN fell behind a Jiangsu city to rank No. 4 in GDP growth in the three quarters this year, statistics showed, but its economic development was more sustainable.
Shanghai topped the nation, followed by Beijing and Guangzhou, each with GDP surpassing 1 trillion yuan (US$147 billion) yuan, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Thursday.
Shenzhen s GDP grew 11.8 percent in the past nine months, reaching 672.2 billion yuan. The growth rate was lower than Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, where GDP grew to 679.8 billion yuan during the same period, up 13.5 percent.
It was the second time Suzhou had overtaken Shenzhen to be the nation s fourth largest economy. In 2000, Shenzhen was also overtaken by Suzhou in GDP growth. However, experts said Shenzhen s economic growth was more sustainable.
According to Guo Wanda, deputy director of the China Development Institute (Shenzhen), fixed assets investment accounted for a large part of Suzhou s GDP growth, which wasn t the case in Shenzhen.
Shenzhen s GDP growth didn t depend largely on investment in infrastructure, but rather the growth of a large number of private companies, Guo said.
He said Shenzhen had gone through a painful period of industry restructuring this year and exports has just recovered to pre-crisis levels. However, growth in many Yangtze River Delta cities was driven by many large infrastructure projects.
Infrastructure projects also contributed nearly 20 percent to Guangzhou s GDP, which is up 13.5 percent this year, owing to the Asian Games which opens Friday. (SD News)
