Gross Domestic Product (GDP) generated in the Hengqin Financial Trade Zone has increased by an annualized growth rate of 29.1 per cent from RMB6.8 billion (US$951.6 million) in 2014 to RMB24.4 billion in 2018, Zhuhai city authorities indicated.
Meanwhile, fixed-asset investment rose went from RMB24.7 billion in 2014 to RMB57.2 billion in – an 18.3 per cent yearly growth rate – while foreign capital jumping from US$257 million to US$1.06 billion in the same four year period at a 32.7 per cent an annualized growth rate.
Concerning the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone – created in 1980 together with the Shenzhen and Shantou economic zones – its GDP was said to have risen from RMB209 million in 1979 to RMB291.5 billion in 2018, with the city now having more than 3,000 foreign trade enterprises.
In 2009 the Chinese State Council approved for the 106.46-square-kilometers Henqgin area to be established into a new financial and trade zone that would enjoy more preferential development policies due to its proximity to Macau.
According to Zhuhai authorities as of 2018 Hengqin had more than 60,000 business entities, and 2,700 Hong Kong and Macau enterprises registered, with 774 registering just in that year.
This month the Zhuhai city authorities also indicated that new supporting initiatives will be doled out for enterprises licensed by Hong Kong, Macau, or overseas investors who decide to establish themselves in the Guangdong-Macao Cross-Border Financial Cooperation (Zhuhai) Demonstration Zone in Hengqin.
In April of this year, the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission had launched the Construction Plan of Hengqin International Recreation Island, with the first step being to develop leisure and tourism into pillar industries of the Hengqin New Area by 2020.
The Guangdong-Macao Cooperation Industrial Park, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Science & Technology Industrial Park of Cooperation Between Guangdong & Macau, and the Macau-Hengqin Youth Entrepreneurship Valley (Inno Valley HQ) were also said to have advanced Zhuhai-Macao synergetic development in hi-tech, characterized finance, healthcare, and other emerging industries.
In June Macau company Dah Chong Hong Macau Total Supply Chain Management Co. Ltd became the first local company to open a project at the Guangdong-Macau Co-operation Industrial Park in Hengqin District.
Analysts have also told MNA that tourism flows coming from Mainland China will likely start to be diverted from the Gongbei Border to the Lotus Bridge checkpoint in Cotai as a new line connecting the Gongbei Border to Hengqin New Area is set to open in November.
Also, starting from July 1, Macau residents living in Hengqin New Area became eligible for coverage by the city’s basic medical insurance, with some 2,000 Macau residents said to be working in Zhuhai, with 283 having resident permits to live in Hengqin.
