Tianjin has set a GDP growth target of about four percent for 2023.

Zhang Gong, mayor of Tianjin, announced the goal on January 11 while delivering a municipal government work report at the ongoing first session of the 18th Tianjin Municipal People's Congress.

According to Zhang, the city's fiscal revenue and per capita disposable income are projected to grow basically in step with economic development. Its fixed-asset investment will increase by about three percent year-on-year. The retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending, will come in at 6 percent. Its foreign trade will register a relatively higher growth rate than the year 2022.

Meanwhile, about 350,000 new jobs will be created in 2023. The surveyed urban jobless rate will stand at 5.5 percent and the consumer price index will surge by three percent year-on-year.

In 2023, the city will strive to accomplish national targets on energy conservation and the reduction of carbon emissions as well.

During the past five years, Tianjin has made great strides in the adjustment of its economic structure, the replacement of old growth engines with new ones, and high-quality economic development.

Statistics show that the city's GDP was expected to stand at 1.6 trillion yuan ($ 236.8 billion) in 2022. The fiscal revenue came in at 184.66 million yuan and the per capita disposable income registered an annual growth of 5.7 percent in 2022.

The city has attached great importance to the development of the manufacturing industry, accelerated the building of a modern industrial system, which covers smart technology; bio-medicine, new energy and materials; aerospace, equipment manufacturing, petrochemical and auto sectors, and made noticeable progress in the cultivation of 12 key industrial chains.

The added value of the city's strategic emerging and high-tech industries saw a year-on-year increase of four percent and six percent respectively in 2022.

The city has further bolstered its independent innovation capabilities. In 2022, its R&D spending intensity, or the expenditure on R&D as a percentage of its GDP, reached about 3.66 percent, the third highest level across the country. It intensified the efforts to promote the building of new-generation supercomputers, FeiTeng CPU, Galaxy Kylin operating system and Tianjin University's large-scale earthquake project simulation research facility.

In January 2020, a study group with Chemist Zhou Qilin from Nankai University won the first-place prize of the State Natural Science Award for inventing a highly effective catalyst that has been widely used by giant pharmaceutical companies in drug production.

The number of both national high-tech enterprises and small & medium-sized technological firms has exceeded 10,000 in Tianjin.

The city has further upgraded the development of its service industry, put the first phase of National Exhibition and Convention Center (Tianjin) into use, and witnessed a burgeoning development of financial, leasing and commercial service industries. It reported a year-on-year increase of four percent in the added value of the service industry in 2022.

The city has redoubled its efforts to implement rural revitalization strategy, secured a bumper harvest in a row, remained one of the highest self-reliant provincial region in terms of vegetable supplies, and further improved the living environment of rural residents.