By QIU QUANLIN in Guangzhou | CHINA DAILY 

GUANGZHOU - South China's Guangdong province is targeting economic growth of more than 6 percent this year, Governor Ma Xingrui said Sunday.

The province recorded 2.3-percent GDP growth in 2020 to exceed 11 trillion yuan ($1.7 trillion), Ma said while delivering a government work report at the annual session of the provincial legislature.

Its GDP volume has continued to lead China's provincial-level regions, Ma added.

Guangdong, a manufacturing heartland and leading foreign trade player in the country, has been successful in resuming production and business after the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the province's total imports and exports of goods shrank by 0.9 percent year-on-year in 2020 to 7.08 trillion yuan, according to the provincial statistics bureau.

In breakdown, exports edged up 0.2 percent while imports dropped by 2.6 percent, the bureau said in a report delivered to the legislative session.

China's national GDP increased 2.3 percent year-on-year last year, likely the only major economy to post growth in the pandemic-ravaged year.