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GUANGZHOU: The country's top economic powerhouse is forecasting 8.5 percent GDP growth this year, a draft government report said yesterday.

The report is yet to be discussed by delegates to the provincial people's congress, which opens today in the provincial capital of Guangzhou.

Growth will be less than last year's 10.1 percent, sources close to the provincial people's congress said.

GDP was about 3.57 trillion yuan ($522.4 billion) last year, down 4.6 percent on 2007.

"As the largest province in terms of GDP, Guangdong will face a tough time in 2009 as it has been greatly affected by the global financial crisis," Governor Huang Huahua said at a government work meeting in December.

The first half of this year will be particularly tough for Guangdong's economic development, he said.

"We have not seen the bottom of the financial crisis. We expect the economy will slowly recover in the second half."

Foreign trade in the province will see zero increase this year, the draft report said.

Foreign trade in Guangdong, which accounts for about one-third of the country's total, fell from an increase of 20.3 percent in 2007 to only 7.8 percent, or $683.3 billion, last year, according to the report.

As a result of the financial crisis, a number of export-oriented firms in the Pearl River delta region have closed, it said.

"Foreign orders fell by 30-50 percent last year and financial organizations are worried about offering loans to export-oriented firms in the region," Huang said.

To tackle the problem, the province will intensify efforts to develop new markets in Africa, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the Middle East and South America, according to sources with the Guangdong provincial development and reform commission.

The government will also set up a digital foreign trade network this year, to promote online exhibition and trade for export-oriented firms, sources said.

"Under the current global trade situation, Guangdong should develop a number of self-innovated brands and enhance the added value of its exports in a bid to maintain its lead in foreign trade development," Feng Shengping, a researcher with the provincial situation study and research center, said.

Questions:

1. What significant event takes place today in Guangzhou?

2. Guangdong accounts for how much of the country’s foreign trade?

Answers:

1. The provincial people's congress opens.

2. About a third.

（英語點津 Helen 編輯）

Brendan joined The China Daily in 2007 as a language polisher in the Language Tips Department, where he writes a regular column for Chinese English Language learners, reads audio news for listeners and anchors the weekly video news in addition to assisting with on location stories. Elsewhere he writes Op’Ed pieces with a China focus that feature in the Daily’s Website opinion section.

He received his B.A. and Post Grad Dip from Curtin University in 1997 and his Masters in Community Development and Management from Charles Darwin University in 2003. He has taught in Japan, England, Australia and most recently China. His articles have featured in the Bangkok Post, The Taipei Times, The Asia News Network and in-flight magazines.