Produced by | Huabo Business Review

In the first half of this year, Sichuan Province achieved a regional GDP of 2.94633 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.4% year-on-year. This growth rate is not only 0.4 percentage points higher than the national average but also continues the momentum of leading the country since the first three quarters of 2023.

To further consolidate and expand this positive situation and promote sustained economic recovery, Sichuan Province has launched a series of "policy packages."

On September 26, the 35th Executive Meeting of the Sichuan Provincial Government reviewed and unanimously approved the "Several Policy Measures to Promote Sustained Economic Recovery." This policy document deepens and expands the policies already implemented in the first half of the year, aiming to provide strong support for sprinting towards achieving the annual target and ensuring a good start for next year's economic work through the continuous introduction of a new round of policies for steady growth.

01

The Competition for the Fifth Largest Province

In 2023, Sichuan Province's GDP surpassed the 6 trillion yuan mark, briefly overtaking Henan Province to become China's fifth-largest economy and a leader in the central and western regions.

However, the competition between Henan and Sichuan for the fifth-largest economy is far from settled.

In 2024, Henan Province surpassed Sichuan in the first two quarters with significantly faster GDP growth, but it remains uncertain whether Henan will maintain this position throughout the year or whether Sichuan will reclaim it.

Data shows that Henan's lead over Sichuan in the first quarter was primarily in the secondary industry, with an advantage of nearly 88 billion yuan.

However, Henan lagged behind Sichuan in growth rates for the three key economic indicators of investment, consumption, and foreign trade, indicating Sichuan's strong momentum in economic growth drivers.

Specifically, Henan's fixed asset investment growth rate in the first quarter was only 2.9%, much lower than Sichuan's 5.2%. The growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods was also 0.5 percentage points lower than that of Sichuan. In terms of foreign trade, Henan experienced a significant decline, with a year-on-year decrease of 23.4%, while Sichuan increased by 7.8% year-on-year, with a total amount far exceeding Henan's.

Looking back at the past four years, Henan's economic growth rate has consistently been below the national average, while Sichuan has maintained an economic growth rate higher than Henan for six consecutive years, driven by the rapid development of its new energy industry, particularly in electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products.

Furthermore, in 2023, despite falling behind at the beginning of the year, Sichuan achieved a 6% growth rate throughout the year, 1.9 percentage points higher than Henan's, ultimately overtaking Henan in total economic output.

Experts point out that Sichuan's abundant lithium mineral resources and solid industrial foundation provide strong support for the development of its new energy industry, while Henan faces challenges such as a relatively monotonous economic structure and slow economic transformation. In the first half of the year, the GDP gap between the two provinces remained around 200 billion yuan, with Henan regaining the fifth position but failing to meet expectations in terms of incremental performance.

With the implementation of a series of precise and effective policy measures, Sichuan's economy is expected to continue its steady growth trajectory, supporting the achievement of annual targets and the pursuit of becoming the fifth-largest economy in China.

02

Policy Upgrade

The policy measures announced this time are a continuation and upgrade of the policies introduced in April, focusing on four core areas: promoting consumption, helping enterprises reduce costs and burdens, accelerating their rapid growth, and promoting industrial transformation and upgrading. A comprehensive and multi-level policy support system has been established around these areas.

The policy measures are aimed at promoting sustained economic recovery by implementing a series of precise and effective incentive measures in four areas: promoting consumption, helping enterprises reduce costs and burdens, accelerating their rapid growth, and promoting industrial transformation and upgrading.

To promote consumption, the policy reduces the cost of major consumer purchases such as cars and home renovations through fiscal interest subsidies, stimulating market vitality. It also encourages innovation and development of new online and offline consumption scenarios, providing financial subsidies to eligible operators to further expand consumption channels. Special attention is also given to the stable and healthy development of the real estate market and the recovery of the inbound tourism market, with measures such as home purchase incentives, loan interest subsidies, and incentives for inbound tourism by travel agencies to stimulate consumer demand from multiple dimensions.

To help enterprises reduce costs and burdens, the policy focuses on key areas such as labor, energy consumption, and financing. Measures such as recruitment cost subsidies, incentives for green and low-carbon manufacturing energy consumption, discounts on highway tolls for trucks, and the establishment of an emergency refinancing fund pool for steady growth effectively reduce operating costs and alleviate financing pressures, creating a more relaxed environment for enterprise development.

To accelerate the rapid growth of enterprises, the policy targets major project completions, production growth, and transformation and upgrading as breakthrough points, providing financial incentives to eligible industrial, construction, automotive, and trade enterprises to encourage them to expand production scales and enhance market competitiveness. Special attention is also given to the "transformation and upgrading" process, with financial support for enterprises that successfully complete the transition to help them achieve leapfrog development.

To promote industrial transformation and upgrading, the policy emphasizes both the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and the cultivation and development of emerging industries. On the one hand, measures such as incentives for stable and high-quality beef cattle production stabilize the agricultural foundation and improve the quality of agricultural products. On the other hand, traditional service enterprises are encouraged to transform and upgrade, promoting innovation and development in business districts and commercial complexes. At the same time, special attention is given to the transformation and upgrading of the automotive industry, supporting the development of new energy vehicles and pushing the automotive industry towards green and intelligent directions.