Shanghai Photo: IC
Shanghai's GDP is expected to grow by more than 6 percent in 2021, local authorities said on Sunday.
In 2021, Shanghai aims to keep GDP growth above 6 percent, with local budget revenues to grow by 3 percent, and urban unemployment rate to remain under 5 percent, said Gong Zheng, mayor of Shanghai, on Sunday.
He noted that Shanghai's economy is showing an upward trend.
Last year, Shanghai's GDP grew by 1.7 percent, the local budget revenues fell by 1.7 percent because of tax reduction measures to prop up growth, and urban unemployment was kept below 4.4 percent.
Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, the city’s economic growth seems to have gained new impetus, he said.
The revenue from the software and information service industry rose by more than 12 percent in 2020 over the previous year, thanks to the vigorous development of the digital economy. An average of 1,665 new enterprises was registered per day.
Shaghai’s financial sector witnessed robust growth too, with total transactions in Shanghai's financial markets hit 2,274.8 trillion yuan in 2020, an increase of 17.6 percent. Also, 51 new regional headquarters of multinational companies, 20 foreign-funded R&D centers, and a number of high-level scientific research institutions were set up in the city.
The total import and export volume of foreign trade has reached 3.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.3 percent, and the actual utilization of foreign capital has hit $20.23 billion, up 6.2 percent.
Looking ahead, Gong said that Shanghai will continue to promote digital industrialization, accelerate new economy and finance a number of key new infrastructure projects.
The city aims to build 8,000 5G outdoor base stations to speed up the construction of an international data center.
It will also continue to promote the opening-up of the financial industry, attract more multinational companies to the city and promote trial operation of the digital currency.