Foreign trade fuels Xinjiang's regional GDP growth during 14th Five-Year Plan

Erkin Tuniyaz, chairman of the government of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, reported that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), the region's GDP grew at an average annual rate of 5.9 percent, and its foreign trade volume expanded by an average of 28.5 percent per year.

The chairman made comments during a government work report delivered to the annual regional legislative session, which opened in Urumqi on Tuesday.

Xinjiang's GDP totaled 2.15 trillion yuan ($309.03 billion) in 2025, growing by 5.5 percent year-on-year, while per capita disposable income rose by 5.3 percent for urban residents and 7 percent for rural residents. For the first time, the rural per capita disposable income exceeded the 20,000 yuan mark to reach 20,793 yuan.

Erkin noted that Xinjiang has expanded its characteristic and competitive industries, with major clusters now taking shape in oil and gas production and processing, clean and efficient coal utilization, new-type power systems, green mining and processing, and strategic emerging sectors.

The official added that the region's oil and gas equivalent output ranked first in the nation each of the previous five years and reached 320 million metric tons. Installed new-energy capacity rose to 167 million kilowatts, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the region's total power capacity. Outbound electricity transmission grew at an average annual rate of 3.6 percent, with green electricity making up more than 30 percent of the total.