(Yicai) Feb. 2 -- China’s six central provinces all missed their annual gross domestic product growth target last year, and four of them recorded GDP growth rates lower than the national average, mainly because of weaker external demand and sharp declines in real estate investment.

The combined nominal GDP of Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Shanxi provinces rose 3.3 percent last year from the previous year, ranking last among China’s four major regions -- Central China, Eastern Coastal China, Northwestern China, and Western China. Central China’s GDP accounted for nearly 22 percent of the country’s total, down 0.2 percentage point in the period.

The economy developed faster in eastern and western provinces than in central ones last year because each region is in its own development stage and has different drivers of economic growth, Lin Fei, director of the Regional Research Office of the Institute of Economics of the Anhui Academy of Social Sciences, told Yicai.

Most central provinces are in the middle or late stage of industrialization, so their economic performance relies more on investment than other regions, Lin added. When the domestic and international environment changes, the impact of insufficient demand on provinces in such stages of industrialization becomes more noticeable, he explained.

The accelerated bottoming-out of the real estate sector and prominent downward pressure on exports were other main reasons for the overall slowdown in the economic growth of central Chinese provinces last year, said Luo Zhiheng, chief macroeconomic analyst at Yuekai Securities.

Except for Shanxi province, sales of commercial residential buildings in the other five central provinces declined last year, significantly dragging down local investment and consumption, Luo added.

Exports of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces dropped over 15 percent last year from the one before, Luo noted.

But the economic performance of the six central provinces varied, Qin Zunwen, vice president of the China Society of Urban Economy, told Yicai.

Anhui and Hubei were the only central provinces with GDP growth rates above the national average last year because their high-tech industries accounted for a large proportion of the total industrial value, Qin noted, adding that the four others still have a relatively large proportion of traditional industries and depend more on natural resources, so their economic transformation is slower.

Central provinces need to attach great importance to the development of advanced manufacturing, Qin believes. In particular, Henan and Hunan need to take advantage of their convenient transport network to accept the transfer of industries, especially high-tech ones, from developed coastal areas, he added.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione