Heilongjiang economy delivers robust performance

Northeast China's Heilongjiang province is expected to achieve a GDP growth rate of around 6 percent and a grain harvest of over 75 million metric tons in 2023, the province's acting governor, Liang Huiling, said on Thursday.

This year, the province's general government revenue is expected to increase by around 9 percent, and urban unemployment rate will be kept below 6 percent, Liang said in the government work report at the annual session of the Heilongjiang People's Congress, which kicked off on Thursday.

"The expansion of the province's general government revenue and the increase of the incomes of its urban and rural residents will keep pace with economic growth," she said.

"Over the past five years, Heilongjiang has accelerated the development of modern agriculture, deepened the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, made new strides in reform and opening-up, steadily advanced the construction of ecological civilization, continued to improve people's living standards and strengthened the government's self-construction," she said.

The report also noted that in the first three quarters of 2022, Heilongjiang saw GDP growth of 2.9 percent and created 374,000 new job opportunities in urban areas.

The province leads the country in the annual grain output. Heilongjiang saw its 19th consecutive bumper harvest of grain in 2022 with 77.63 million tons, accounting for 11.3 percent of the national total. It ranked first in the country in annual grain output for the 13th consecutive year.

The sown area in the province in 2022 reached 14.68 million hectares, 132,000 hectares more than the previous year, accounting 12.4 percent of the country.

For 2023, Heilongjiang will focus on accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system, vigorously implementing the strategy of expanding domestic demand, accelerating the construction of a strong province in modern agriculture, continuously strengthening investment attraction, accelerating the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, continuously deepening the reform in key fields, promoting high-level opening to the outside world, consolidating and improving the advantages of green development, the report said.

"We will work hard to improve people's lives and strengthen the government's self-improvement," Liang said.