Guangdong province, an economic powerhouse in South China, leads the nation in economy, with its gross regional product increasing by 10.2 percent year-on-year to reach 5.7 trillion yuan ($917 billion) in 2012, according to a government work report.

Zhu Xiaodan, governor of Guangdong, said in the report that the growth was stimulated by a series of preferential policies to boost domestic consumption and foreign trade amid the global economic downturn.

Domestic consumption accounted for 89 percent of the economic value last year, Zhu said.

According to the report, Guangdong's import and export value grew 9.2 percent year-on-year to reach $983.8 billion last year.

At the opening of the annual session of the local legislature on Friday in Guangzhou, the provincial capital, Zhu said the province has set an economic growth target of 8 percent in 2013.