China’s premier manufacturing hub is recalibrating its economic ambitions, with policymakers in the industrial heartland of Guangdong setting a cautious growth target for 2026, signalling a strategic shift amid intensifying external pressures and internal regional imbalances.
The southern province, bordering Hong Kong, expects its gross domestic product to grow between 4.5 and 5 per cent this year, its governor, Meng Fanli, said on Monday while delivering the annual government work report at the opening of the Guangdong provincial people’s congress.
The proposed growth range marks a downward adjustment from last year’s target of around 5 per cent but is in line with the 2026 national target reported by the Post on Friday.
The move comes after the province fell short of that 5 per cent target amid a persistent drag from the property market. Guangdong is home to major troubled developers such as Evergrande, Vanke and Country Garden.
Official data showed Guangdong’s GDP grew in 2025 by 3.9 per cent, year on year, ranking poorly among the mainland’s 31 provincial-level jurisdictions. Nationwide, the economy grew by 5 per cent last year.
The province’s economy continues to face a mix of long-standing issues and emerging challenges, Meng said in the report.