New Asian tigers not countries, but cities in China
Shanghai’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 7.5 percent year-on-year to exceed 2 trillion yuan (US$326.8 billion) in 2012, official figures showed. The data, released by the Shanghai Bureau of Statistics, placed it on top of all 665 Chinese cities in terms of economic volume, said Yan Jun, the bureau’s chief economist. It is a major milestone for Shanghai, whose GDP reached 1 trillion yuan in 2006, effectively taking only 6 years to double its economy.
Shanghai is China’s most economically powerful city
Beijing came second at 1.8 trillion yuan (US$294.1 billion) but exhibited a more robust growth at 9 percent, while Guangzhou third with 1.3551 trillion yuan (US$221.4 billion) and a 10.5 percent growth rate. GDP of self-administered Hong Kong stood at 1.8898 trillion Hong Kong dollar (US$243.7 billion), though the growth was a paltry 1.4 percent.
Taking into account the whole of China, the richest city was Macau, where at a per capita GDP of US$76,588 was Asia’s second wealthiest city after Tokyo (US$85,700) and ahead of other Asian powerhouses like Singapore (US$50,323), Taipei (US$48,400), Hong Kong (US$36,768) or Seoul (US$25,467). In mainland China, Guangzhou fetched a per capita GDP of US$17,304, Shanghai US$13,888, and Beijing US$14,000. Another major city, Shenzhen, was richer at US$19,872.
Based on the new GDP figure, China’s most economically important city is now clearly ahead of Southeast Asian state Malaysia. Shanghai surpassed Malaysia in 2011 but the two remained a close call with a tiny difference of only US$7 billion. The lead has now widened to US$40 billion partly due to that the Malaysian Ringgit has fallen 7.6 percent against the U.S. dollar year-to-date, while the Chinese Yuan risen by 2 percent. International GDP comparison is measured in U.S. dollar exchange rate.
Beijing has surpassed the entire Malaysia in GDP
The Ringgit plunge also caused Beijing’s GDP to surge ahead of Malaysia, whose RM935.9 billion economy, priced at US$307 billion at the beginning of the year, is now revised to worth only US$284 billion. Nevertheless, even without the currency disparities, Beijing is scheduled to overtake Malaysia soon given that it is on track to grow 8 percent this year compared to Malaysia’s 5 percent.
The municipalities of Shanghai and Beijing both have a population of approximately 20 million compared to Malaysia’s 30 million, so in practice, being 50 percent more productive would be enough to see a GDP eclipse. The real irony is the Guangzhou/Shenzhen and Pakistan comparison. A nation of 182 million people, Pakistan is the 6th most populous in the world. Guangzhou on the other hand, is a city of 14 million. Supposedly, to go in par with Pakistan on GDP, Guangzhou needs to be 13 times more productive.
But that is just how it is. The Pakistani rupee has fallen 8 percent against the dollar year-to-date and its economy is now worth a mere $212 billion compared to the $221 billion of Guangzhou. Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state who harbors dream of becoming a superpower, produced just enough to match China’s third most economically influential city. Looking forward into the future, the city of Guangzhou has set a goal for a GDP catch up with that of Hong Kong and Singapore in 2015 and Taiwan in 2024.
Guangzhou aims to surpass Hong Kong and Singapore in 2015, Taiwan in 2024
Shenzhen, just opposite of Hong Kong, bears a superficial resemblance to Shanghai. Its GDP hit 1.3 trillion yuan (US$212.4 billion) last year after growing 10 percent. The city is closely followed by Tianjin US$212 billion, growing at 13.8 percent, Suzhou US$196 billion, with a growth rate of 10.1 percent, and Chongqing US$189 billion, growing 13.6 percent. Each of these cities are just like a tiger economy of their own, handling a growth rate that would put many emerging Asian states to shame.
The Chinese cities however, remain dwarfed by their Japanese counterpart. GDP of Tokyo was US$1.9 trillion - almost double that of Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong combined. Tokyo has the largest metropolitan economy in the world, more than New York ($1.28 trillion), Los Angeles ($736 billion) or London ($731 billion). In Asia, Shanghai can only be ranked fourth behind Tokyo, Osaka and Seoul.
Despite that, cities in China still offer the best growth potential among major cities of the world. A 7.5 to 15 percent growth rate is unheard of in Japan and the West. New York for instance, grew by just 1.3 percent, London 3.1 percent while Tokyo 2 percent. The planet’s 10 biggest city economies are currently as follow: Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Osaka, Chicago, Seoul, Moscow and Sao Paolo.
China: We figured out how to develop - produce many Singapores and Hong Kongs across the country
Source:
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90778/8332481.html
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china … 117886.htm
http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-sh … 1205.htm#4
http://english.gz.gov.cn/publicfiles/bu … 88545.html
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subc … 4&cid=1102
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/ … rowth-2013
