OVER 600 foreign-funded companies settled in Beijing’s Central Business District (CBD) last year, bringing the total number of foreign companies in the area to over 10,000.

A total of 550 foreign-funded companies including 88 multinationals have set up headquarters in the area.

Statistics indicated that foreign companies contributed over 40 percent in total tax income from January to November of last year in the CBD, located in Beijing’s Chaoyang District.

In the first three quarters of 2019, the GDP of Beijing’s CBD reached nearly 240 billion yuan (US$34.4 billion), with a year-on-year growth of 7 percent.

The Beijing CBD is an example of rising foreign investment. In the first 11 months of 2019, the number of foreign-funded projects with an investment of over US$100 million in China reached 722, up 15.5 percent year on year.

The new foreign investment law, which took effect Jan. 1, grants more flexible market access to foreign firms in China and is hailed as a boost to their confidence in expanding investment in the world’s largest developing economy.

In addition to the new law, cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou have rolled out supportive laws and regulations.

China jumped 15 places to 31 out of 190 countries and regions for ease of doing business in the World Bank Group’s Doing Business 2020 study, making it one of the most improved economies in terms of doing business.(Xinhua)