Zhang Qian

    zhqcindy@163.com

    FUTIAN District maintained a regional GDP growth rate of 8.6 percent in 2016, reaching its goal set for last year, announced Gao Shengyuan, head of Futian District Government, on Thursday while delivering a government work report at the 2nd Session of the 7th Futian District People’s Congress.

    The district government work report summarized the government’s work in 2016 and announced plans and goals for this year.

    “Futian’s economy has maintained steady growth. The district’s GDP was estimated to reach 356 billion yuan (US$52 billion) in 2016, up about 8.6 percent over the previous year and equivalent to that of a medium-sized city in the country,” said Gao.

    The district handed in a decent report on economic achievement for the past year as several figures showed the district’s leading position as the city’s center. For instance, total retail sales of consumer goods topped 165 billion yuan, retaining the top position in Shenzhen and accounting for more than one-third of the city’s total.

    Also, the volume of foreign trade surpassed US$118.6 billion in Futian, making up one-fourth of the city’s total, which included US$52.7 billion in exports. The export and import volumes and the total foreign trade volume in Futian continued to rank No. 1 in Shenzhen.

    In particular, said Gao, Futian’s position as the city’s financial hub was secured as the added value of the financial industry rose 10 percent to top 124.5 billion yuan, which accounted for more than 40 percent of the city’s financial industry and contributed 35 percent to the district’s GDP.

    As for improving the livelihoods of Futian residents in such aspects as education and health care, the work report noted that Futian had spent 18.33 billion yuan on social undertakings and improvement of people’s well-being, making up 80 percent of the district’s general budgeted expenditure.

    Gao also presented the major goals for this year’s social and economic development in Futian.

    The district is expecting regional gross domestic product to grow by around 8.3 percent and fixed-asset investment to increase by more than 18 percent.

    The report also maps out plans for the district government in other aspects including enhancing urban management capacity, and paying more attention to green and ecological development.