Governor details 2016 achievements in report address
Northeast China’s Jilin province has made remarkable economic progress and achieved its development goals last year, according to the governor of the province.
Jilin’s GDP growth in 2016 reached 6.9 percent, making it the best-performing province in Northeast China, said Liu Guozhong, acting governor of Jilin, who delivered a Government Work Report at the annual meeting of the provincial legislature in the provincial capital of Changchun on Jan 15.
The added value of industrial enterprises above the designated scale in the province — referring to those with an annual revenue exceeding 20 million yuan — increased by 6.3 percent. The growth of the province’s fixed-asset investment reached 10 percent and that of the total retail sales of consumer goods stood at 9.8 percent, according to the Government Work Report.
In the past year, the province has cut its coal production capacity by 16.43 million metric tons, 4.33 million tons more than the amount required by the central government. It has also reduced its crude steel production capacity by 1.08 million metric tons and finished 68 percent of its real estate destocking target. The operational cost for enterprises was reduced by 48 billion yuan ($6.95 billion), the report said.
The province’s grain output reached 37.17 million metric tons, a record high. Its grain yield per hectare reached 7,402 kilograms, ranking No 1 in the country.
The province has accomplished its goal for energy conservation and emission reduction, lowering the energy consumption per unit of GDP by 7.5 percent.
The province has also steadily pushed forward its outward development. The State Council approved Changchun New Area, the 17th national new area in the country, in February last year, and the Tonghua International Inland Port Area started operations in December.
In 2016, funds from overseas investors and the actually used foreign investment in the province increased by 12 percent and 10 percent respectively compared with the previous year.
People’s livelihoods have also improved in the past year. The per capita annual disposable income for the province’s urban residents reached 26,530 yuan in 2016, up 6.5 percent year-on-year, while that for rural residents stood at 12,123 yuan, up 7 percent.
Over the past year, the province has launched a special campaign to improve the efficiency of a range of leading enterprises, including FAW Group, Jihua Group of China National Petroleum Corp and Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical Group.
Fifteen of the 44 projects that were launched to rejuvenate the Northeast’s economy, including Changchun’s subway line 1 and Baicheng Airport, have been completed and started operations. Meanwhile, the province’s e-commerce transactions reached 330 billion yuan last year, up 30 percent year-on-year.
The province has upgraded its traditional industries while promoting the development of emerging industries. The output of the province’s strategic emerging industries reached 352.9 billion yuan, up 7.7 percent year-on-year, and the proportion of the service industry’s added value in its GDP increased by more than 1 percentage point.
An international ice and snow tourism expo was held in the province in December. In 2016, the province received more than 165.78 million tourists, up 17.3 percent year-onyear. This generated tourism revenue of over 289.7 billion yuan, an increase of 25.1 percent compared with the previous year.
The province has sped up the development of its modern agriculture and sales of its rice products increased by more than 1 billion yuan as a result of its efforts to promote local brands nationwide.
Jilin addressed 48 issues related to people’s livelihoods, lifted more than 300,000 residents out of poverty and enhanced efforts to clean air, water and soil in the province over the past year.
Meanwhile, the province built a total of 129,000 affordable homes, benefiting 362,000 residents. Safe drinking water was made available for more than 171,000 rural residents in the province.