National-level economic development zones gain GDP of 10.5t yuan

China's 218 national-level economic development zones achieved a regional GDP of 10.5 trillion yuan ($1.62 trillion) in 2019 and saw an increase of 10.3 percent from a year earlier, with a growth of 4.2 percentage points higher than the national average, according to the Ministry of Commerce at a news conference on Wednesday. That accounted for 10.6 percent of the country's total GDP.

The GDP in four economic development zones in Suzhou, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Qingdao surpassed 200 billion yuan.

In 2019, the total import and export volume of the 218 national level economic development zones reached 6.4 trillion yuan, an increase of 4 percent year-on-year.

By the end of 2019, national level economic development zones had 31,000 high-tech enterprises, a surge of 39 percent from a year earlier.

Based on 53 indexes in five categories, the Ministry of Commerce announced the top 30 economic development zones in comprehensive level of development, with the GDP of the top 30 hitting 3.8 trillion yuan in 2019, and growing 7.4 percent year-on-year.

Among of the top 30 economic development zones, East China's Jiangsu province has eight zones, Guangdong, Tianjin, Shandong, Zhejiang, Anhui, Liaoning provinces and Shanghai each have two zones, and Hubei, Shanxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Henan provinces and Beijing each have 1.

Moreover, the ministry also announced the top 10 economic development zones in using foreign investment, and the top 10 economic development zones in total import and export volume.

The examination and evaluation by the Ministry of Commerce of the national level economic development zones has been running for five consecutive years, and aims to improve and promote the zones.

The ministry said the five zones that ranked the lowest for two consecutive years will be withdrawn.