Dongguan's economy witnessed healthy growth in the first five months, the city's deputy mayor Zhang Ke said on Saturday.

"We are confident that the city will meet its economic growth target this year," Zhang told foreign journalists from countries situated along the ancient Maritime Silk Road who were visiting Guangdong, one of the economic powerhouses in South China.

Dongguan, which had been relying heavily on trade in the past 30 years to boost its economic growth, was hit hard by the 2008 global financial crisis.

According to Cai Kang, deputy director of Dongguan Bureau of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation, Dongguan's import and export value reached $47.4 billion, up 5.2 percent year-on-year in the first four months this year. The growth rate is higher than that of the province, he said.

The actual utilized foreign investment of the first four months saw a steady growth of 15.4 percent, said Cai.