Thanks to its low reliance on the export trade, Heilongjiang province could still record a decent economic growth this year despite the global financial crisis, a top official said.

"The majority of the province's economy has been left unscathed during the crisis," assured Governor Li Zhanshu at the local people's congress, which ended at the weekend. "The momentum of its development will not slow down this year," he said.

And despite its growth target for 2009 being set at 11 percent, the same as last year, Li warned that the province faces a tough challenge to fulfill the target amid the deepening crisis.

The impact had already been felt, he said, with a reported fall in the influx of investment and a sluggish property market since last September. Companies in the province's backbone sectors of equipment manufacturing and food processing had also been hit hard, he added.

"A fall in the number of orders along with soaring costs affected local revenue last year," Li said.

In response to the 4-trillion-yuan ($585 billion) economic stimulus package the central government announced in November, Li explained that the province will also increase its fixed assets investment by a large margin and give a substantial boost to the construction of its transport infrastructure this year.

"Raising the fixed assets investment and speeding up the construction of a modern transportation network should be the key to help achieve the growth goal," he said.

The province will also inject a considerable amount of money to further develop modern agriculture, he added.

Xue Feng, a deputy to the congress and director of the China Construction Bank Heilongjiang branch, said he is confident of the economic prospects of the province.

"The global economic meltdown could be fatal to some upstream industries in the country but its impact is limited for Heilongjiang, which still heavily relies on agriculture and natural resources," he said.

To counter the global financial crisis, Li Zhanshu also mapped out a scheme to develop "eight economic zones" during his work report delivered at the congress.

The eight zones take into account the natural resources abundant in the province, with the establishment of coal and electricity zones, as well as special forest tourism areas.

(China Daily January 20, 2009)