South China's boomtown Dongguan records 3% of economic growth in the first three quarters.

Dongguan posts 3% of GDP growth in the first three quarters, an increase of 2.4% compared with the 0.6% growth in the first half, according to an economic analysis released by Dongguan Government on October 12th.

Dongguan reports a total of 271 billion RMB in GDP in the first three quarters, a growth of 3% compared with the same period last year. Yet in the first half, this growth was reported to be 0.6%.

Investment and consumption have served as the driving force of the growth, the analysis said. From January to September, the fixed asset investment totaled 68.58 billion RMB, an increase of 14.5% compared with the same period last year. At the same time retail sales reached 70.49 billion RMB, an increase of 12.9%.

Export and import figures are still being affected by the economic downturn as the two figures are down by 23% and 21.3% respectively.

Businesses orders, however, have thrivied as the government had rolled out series of policies to assist exploration in domestic markets. Business orders in the Q3 have increased by 30% compared with the first and second quarters.

A surge in employment was influenced by the increased business orders. In the Q3, employers reported a labour demand of 312 thousand people, an increase of 45% over the second quarter.

The government said the figure of companies which went out business or transferred their plants out of Dongguan has reduced to 447, a decrease of 20% over the same period of last year.

In the report, the government said economic growth would prove to be faster in the second half compared with first half as exports are expected to rise with the recovery of the world market and policies of investments expansion to be followed by the government.

(By Morvin Chow)