National Academy of Economic Strategy, CASS released an Economic Report of Chinese Counties (2018) in Beijing Tuesday, which was also a report of national top 100 counties. 400 top counties (cities) were selected from about 2000 county economic units according to gross regional domestic product, local public revenue and the number of industrial enterprises above designated size.
In the 400 selected counties (cities), the top 100 ones are scattered in 17 provinces or cities. Thereinto, 65 ones are in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong Province. Jiangsu Province has 25 selected cities, Zhejiang has 21 and Shandong has 19. The top 10 counties (cities) of comprehensive economic competitiveness are Kunshan, Jiangyin, Zhangjiagang, Changshu, Taicang, Yiwu, Changsha county, Cixi, Yixing and Longkou. However, provinces (cities) such as Shanxi, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Guangxi, Chongqing, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang have no city that made the list of Chinese top 100 counties (cities) of comprehensive competitiveness.
The top 100 counties (cities) of investment potential are scattered in 19 provinces. Zhejiang Province has the most, 27 cities, Anhui has 15 and Jiangsu has 13. The top 10 counties (cities) of investment potential are Jintang, Jiashan county, Jieshou city, Gu’an county, Deqing county, Xinjin county, Lingwu city, Minhou county, Pinghu city and Cixi city. Provinces (cities) like Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Chongqing and Qinghai have no city that made the list of Chinese top 100 counties (cities) of investment potential.
The report indicated that despite the general recovering trend of county economic growth speed, the polarization among counties were increasing. Poor economic performance of some counties became an unstable factor of local development, which was quite worrying. In 2017, compared to national economic growth, the speed of average county economic growth recovered sharply. The speed of gross regional domestic product growth of 400 counties (cities) recovered by 0.86%, exceeding the recovery of GDP growth speed which was 0.2%. The average economic growth speed of Guizhou--the sample city remained ahead. As for consumption, compared to last year, the average growth speed of Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods kept falling, while it recovered slightly in sample cities in western China. In terms of investment, the average growth speed of fixed asset investment recovered significantly comparing to last year, while it fell in sample cities in central and western China. In terms of finance, the average growth speed of local public revenue fell under the influence of the replacement of business tax with value-added tax, while it rose in sample cities in eastern China; negative growth appeared in eight provinces. In terms of per capita income, per capita disposable income in 26 counties (cities) exceeded 50,000 yuan, 20 counties (cities) of which were in Zhejiang Province. Thereinto, per capita disposable income of Yiwu city and Yuhuan city exceeded 60,000 yuan, and the urban-rural income gap tended to be narrowed. In terms of GDP, Shenmu city, Qian’an city, Rugao city and Yuyao city became cities of which the GDP achieved hundreds of billion yuan. In the national context, the number of cities of which the GDP achieved hundreds of billion yuan reached to 24.
