(Yicai) Feb. 21 -- The 26 Chinese cities that last year logged a gross domestic product of over CNY1 trillion (USD139.2 billion) have released their economic growth target for this year.

Zhengzhou, the capital city of central Henan province, set its GDP growth target at around 7 percent, the highest among China's top 26 cities, Yicai calculated. Meanwhile, Henan set the figure at 5.5 percent. Zhengzhou's economy expanded 7.4 percent last year.

Chinese first-tier cities Beijing and Shanghai set their GDP growth goal for this year at around 5 percent, Shenzhen at 5.5 percent, and Guangzhou at no less than 5 percent. Southwestern Chongqing and Chengdu announced they set their economic growth target at around 6 percent.

Last year, the 26 Chinese cities with a GDP of over CY1 trillion accounted for nearly 40 percent of the country's total economic output, showing how they are the backbone of China, bearing the heavy responsibility of driving the economy.

Several provinces, including Guangdong, Sichuan, and Henan, are accelerating their role of creating new economic growth points, Yicai learned.

Guangdong province, China's largest provincial economy, recently released a government work report to stress the important role of its cities with a GDP of over CNY1 trillion to drive economic development.

Cities with an economic scale exceeding CNY500 billion (USD69.6 billion), such as Luoyang in Henan province, Yichang and Xiangyang in Hubei province, and Yueyang in Hunan province, have all set their expected GDP growth rates for this year at around 6 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione