Guangdong province's first-half GDP grew 2 percent year-on-year to more than 5.95 trillion yuan ($915.67 billion) despite recurring COVID-19 resurgences and a complex global environment.

The southern Chinese province, one of the major production bases worldwide, continued to lead the country in terms of GDP since this year.

Guangdong is also one of the only two mainland provinces whose GDP surpassed 5 trillion yuan between January and June. The other is East China's Jiangsu province whose GDP hit 5.69 trillion in the first six months, up 1.6 percent year-on-year.

China achieved a GDP of more than 56.26 trillion yuan from January to June, a year-on-year increase of 2.5 percent. Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces were followed by Shandong, Zhejiang, Henan, Sichuan, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan and Anhui provinces in terms of GDP size.

Qu Jian, vice-president of the Shenzhen-based China Development Institute, a think tank, said Guangdong's economy has been under pressure from the impact of COVID-19 and international trade friction since the beginning of the year.

Containers are piled up at Nansha Port in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in April. CHEN JIMIN/CHINA NEWS SERVICE

"However, Guangdong demonstrated its economic resilience as the province's economic structure has been continuously optimized, especially the rapid growth of industrial investment, which is a positive development signal," Qu said.

"Guangdong should further strengthen its efforts in both fixed asset investment and consumption, increase measures to stabilize and expand its foreign trade, and promote higher quality and higher level steady economic growth with the advantage of relatively moderate price growth in the second half," he said.

The Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday that major economic indicators in the province all enjoyed positive growth in the first half.

Guangdong's added value for industrial enterprises above a designated size came to 1.91 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.5 percent, while the province's fixed asset investment increased by 1 percent year-on-year.

Guangdong's total retail sales of social consumer goods reached 2.17 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.9 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, Guangdong, the country's top foreign trader, reached a two-way trade volume of 3.91 trillion yuan from January to June, up 2.8 percent year-on-year, local Customs said in a statement on Tuesday.

Guangdong's exports stood at 2.47 trillion yuan in the first six months, up 7.3 percent year-on-year, while imports fell 4 percent to 1.44 trillion yuan, the statement said.

The province relies heavily on foreign trade to achieve overall sustainable economic growth, it said.