How about the performance of the four cities in Jiangsu that aim at the GDP of trillion? Is Xuzhou expected to break through the trillion this year?

In Jiangsu, which has the most cities with GDP exceeding trillion yuan, apart from Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Nantong, and Changzhou, four other cities including Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Yancheng, and Taizhou have also set their sights on a GDP exceeding trillion yuan. In the past year, the economic development of these four cities has attracted widespread attention.

With the opening of people’s congress in these four cities, their economic data has been revealed. Among them, Xuzhou is expected to achieve a regional GDP of 950 billion yuan in 2024, with an expected growth rate of around 6.3%. The city is expected to achieve a GDP of over trillion yuan this year.

扬州预计2024年的GDP增速约为6%，盐城预计增长约5.5%，泰州预计突破7000亿元。

In 2023, Xuzhou’s GDP reached 890.044 billion yuan. Since 2024, its GDP growth has been at the forefront of the “quasi-trillion-dollar cities”: 6.9% in the first quarter, 6.3% in the first half, and 6.2% in the first three quarters. As of the third quarter, its GDP totaled 689.94 billion yuan, with a gap of 310.06 billion yuan from the trillion-dollar mark. On January 14th, the 17th Session of the Xuzhou People’s Congress opened. According to the government work report, last year, the city’s major economic indicators continued to grow faster than the national average. It is expected to achieve a regional GDP of 950 billion yuan and grow by around 6.3%, with its economic aggregate reaching a new hundred-billion-yuan level.

Last year, Xuzhou expected general public budget revenues of 56.03 billion yuan, an increase of 4.7% on a comparable basis. Industrial added value grew by 6.5%, with service industry revenue increasing by 8%. Fixed asset investment increased by 7.7%, driven by equipment updates worth 59 billion yuan, and industrial invoice sales exceeding 830 billion yuan.

Pengpai News (www.thepaper.cn) noted that Xuzhou has proposed for years to achieve a GDP of over trillion yuan by 2025. This year, the city’s government work report proposed that the expected target for regional GDP growth is around 6%. Based on this estimation, Xuzhou is expected to become a “trillion-dollar city” this year.

Yangzhou’s GDP reached 742.326 billion yuan in 2023. During the “Two Sessions” last year, it was proposed that its GDP should reach a trillion during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period. The city’s economic growth has been accelerating: 5.6% in the first quarter, 5.7% in the first half, and 5.9% in the first three quarters. According to the government work report presented by Mayor Pan Guoqiang, Yangzhou is expected to achieve a regional GDP growth of around 6% last year, with general public budget revenues increasing by 3.9%. Per capita disposable income is expected to grow by around 5.5%. The city’s fixed asset investment, retail sales of consumer goods, actual use of foreign capital, and total import and export volume are among the top in the province. This is the last year of the “14th Five-Year Plan”, with an expected target for regional GDP growth of over 5.5%.

市委书记 Wang Jinjian stated at the ninth session of the Political Consultative Conference that after four years of hard work from across the city, Yangzhou’s comprehensive economic strength has reached a new level: its total regional GDP has risen from 601.3 billion yuan to around 780 billion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of around 5.8%. Gaoyou and Yizheng have both entered the list of hundred-billion-dollar cities in terms of their GDP, while Baoying has entered the list of top hundred counties in terms of national county comprehensive competitiveness rankings. The city’s industrial innovation has also reached a new level: industrial invoice sales have grown from 612.6 billion yuan to over 9 trillion yuan across three consecutive trillion-dollar thresholds. The number of high-tech enterprises has increased by 54.6%, and high-tech industrial output value accounts for an increased proportion of regular industrial output by 4.9%.

Yancheng’s GDP reached 7403.9 billion yuan in 2023 and proposed to strive for a trillion-dollar status within