China Watch Blog

For Transport Logistics professionals seeking new areas of business, perhaps they should seriously consider looking at the western regions of China where Xinhua has just reported that the gross domestic product (GDP) in these regions grew by 13.5% year on year in 2009. This growth rate is much higher than the country’s revised national GDP growth of 9.1%.

Xinhua reports that it is the eighth year in a row for these regions to score a double-digit GDP growth after the Chinese government launched a “West Development” campaign ten years ago.

The report on the economic development of China’s western regions issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences  attributed the GDP growth mainly to China’s policies to stimulate domestic demand and the increase in investment, despite the global financial crisis.

Five provinces, regions or municipalities saw an increase of more then ten percent in the disposable income of urban citizens in 2009, as the income gap between China’s western and eastern regions had begun to narrow, the report said.

The average yearly per capita disposable income of urban citizens in the western regions was 12,971 yuan (about 1,918 U.S. dollars) in 2008.

Noting that economic development in the western regions still heavily relied on natural resources, the report said efforts should be made to increase the regions’ capacity to ensure sustainable development, while establishing a low-carbon industrial system.