On March 26, the Foshan Municipal Bureau of Statistics announced the overall performance of Foshan's economy from January to February, showing strong sign of recovery. At the beginning of 2023, the overall statistic figures showed a trend of stabilization and recovery, which were generally better than the national and provincial average.

Manufacturing industry in leading position

From January to February, the added value of industries above scale in Foshan was 78.808 billion yuan, with an increase of 9.8%, 11.3 percent higher than the growth rate of Guangdong province (-1.5%), 7.4 percent higher than the national growth rate (2.4%). Additionally, it was 1.5 percent higher than the figure of the same period last year, and 8.2 percentage points higher than last-year average.

Specifically, the trend of recovery happened in major industries, medium-sized enterprises and new enterprises. The proportion of advanced manufacturing industry has increased. There is a rapid growth in high-tech manufacturing industry, and smooth increase in the growth of traditional advantageous industries.

Uptrend in the industrial investment

The industrial investment vastly grew with strong driving forces and resilience. From January to February, Foshan's industrial investment increased by 56.4%, 31.5 percent higher than the provincial average. The investment in fixed assets increased by 5.1%, 8.7 percentage points higher than last-year average.

The construction of listed projects was also accelerating. From January to February, a total of 181 investment projects (excluding real estate industry) were newly listed.,Completed projects have stimulated 6.8-percent increase in total investment. Remarkably, there were 129 industrial investments, with completed projects accounting for 12.7% of Foshan's overall industrial investment, fusing the industrial investment by 19.9 percent.

Smooth recovery in overall consumption

From January to February, overall consumption and market confidence have gradually recovered. The total retail sales of consumer goods reached 66.413 billion yuan. Since China optimized the COVID-19 strategy, tourism industry has a significant uptrend. With consumption promotion policies in place, accommodation and catering business have increased by 2.5% and 5.2% respectively from January to February.

The market supply was continuously optimized to stimulate consumption demand for upgraded commodities. In terms of the product categories, certain upgraded commodities have relatively higher growth rate, including 23.5% for construction and decoration materials, 5% for sports and entertainment goods, and 3.2% for gold and jewelry.