China’s southern manufacturing hub of Guangzhou plans 1,722 projects in 2023 worth more than 6.5 trillion yuan ($945 billion), state media CCTV reported on Thursday, after the city was hit by stringent COVID-19 curbs in late 2022, according to Reuters.
In 2023 alone, 526.1 billion yuan is expected to be invested in the projects which span areas including transport, new energy vehicles and biomedicine, the report said.
Guangzhou’s infrastructure push echoes policymakers’ calls to spur economic growth, which was hurt not only by COVID-19 outbreaks and strict restrictions, but by a protracted property downturn and now a fading exports outlook.
To revive growth, authorities have dusted off an old playbook, issuing debt to fund big public works projects.
The finance minister said the country would step up fiscal expansion in an appropriate manner in 2023 by boosting spending and investment via local government special bonds to spur the economy.
More than 480 transport infrastructure projects have been scheduled by Guangzhou as the city aims to build itself as an international transportation hub, CCTV said.
Chen Xu, an official at Guangzhou’s development and reform commission, said that the city would strive to complete about 30 percent of planned annual investment by the end of the first quarter, in a bid to shore up growth, according to the CCTV report.
Guangzhou, a manufacturing powerhouse that is home to nearly 19 million people, suffered the city’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks in November last year.
After Beijing’s abrupt COVID policy U-turn, analysts expect the surging virus infections may continue hitting businesses and consumers in winter months.
