Global Economy

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<b>Guangdong Province's 2008 Economic Growth Slowed Almost a Third to 10.1% </b> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->link
Guangdong province, China’s biggest export base, saw its economic expansion cool to 10.1 percent last year, 4.6 percentage points slower than in 2007, the provincial Vice Governor Huang Longyun said today.

Some of the<b> province’s economic indicators “declined seriously</b>” last year, Huang told a press briefing in Beijing. <b>Export growth slowed to 5.6 percent from 22.3 percent in 2007</b>, and <b>industrial output climbed 12.8 percent, down 5.2 percentage points</b>.

<b>The Pearl River Delta manufacturing hub, which straddles the province, is facing its worst time since the Asian Financial Crisis a decade ago</b>, he said.

The number of<b> businesses that shut down or de-registered in 2008 rose to 62,400, 4,739 more than the previous year</b>, concentrated among small companies and traditional industries, Huang said. Still, the province added a net 32,800 companies last year because more businesses opened, he said.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


<b>International Visitor Arrivals to China Drop for First Time in Five Years </b>
The number of international visitors to China, the world’s third-largest tourist destination, fell for the first time in five years in 2008, because of the global economic slump and government limits during the Olympic Games.