New economy leads high-quality development in Xiamen

Xiamen in East China's Fujian province introduced a range of policies to help the city's high-tech, high-growth and high-value-added enterprises cope with the impact of COVID-19, in order to promote the high-quality development in the city, according to local media reports April 8.

According to statistics released by the Xiamen Municipal Department of Commerce, the city introduced 938 new projects in the first quarter of 2020, with a total planned investment of 351.45 billion yuan ($49.88 billion), accounting for 29.4 percent of last year’s annual planned investment.

The city's 222 newly established foreign enterprises generated 6.75 billion yuan of contractual foreign investment from January to March, growing by 21.9 percent year-on-year, and the actual utilized foreign capital in the city increased by 30.1 percent year-on-year to 5.97 billion yuan, accounting for 53 percent of Fujian's total amount.

Local authorities said that in recent years, the city has been beefing up efforts to foster a better industrial ecology and business environment for foreign investors.

Last year, Xiamen rolled out an array of favorable policies for industries in finance, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions), and the new economy, with the aim of attracting investors and high-end talents. The government released 72 favorable policies benefiting 44,478 enterprises, and tax cuts and fee reductions exceeded 40 billion yuan.

Currently, Xiamen is home to 1,928 national high-tech companies, a net increase of 113.2 percent year-on-year. The city's high-tech, high-growth and high-value-added enterprises above a designated size generated a total industrial output value of 583.12 billion yuan in 2019.

According to local authorities, strategic and emerging industries and blockchain technologies will be sped up, and young, fast-growing unicorn and gazelle companies will be accelerated, to cultivate new growth drivers for development, and promote the development of Xiamen’s new economy.