Wuhan zone's annual GDP over 200b yuan

An automobile manufacturing plant in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone. [Photo provided to en.whkfq.gov.cn]

The high-quality development performance meeting for the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WEDZ) took place on March 2, in which the zone's overall economic outcomes over last year were summarized.

According to the initial calculations, the zone reported 200.88 billion yuan ($29.13 billion) in GDP, which is an increase of 5 percent and is higher than the average GDP of both Hubei province and Wuhan city. This is the first time that the zone's GDP exceeded 200 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, WEDZ's total output for industries above a designated size stood at 346.22 billion yuan, up 6.8 percent year-on-year, ranking first in Wuhan and achieving a historical high.

Last year, the zone's new energy vehicle (NEV) production volume came in at 150,000, a surge of 230 percent. The zone's fixed asset investment came in at 92.95 billion yuan, an increase of 11.6 percent. Of that total, 30.99 billion yuan were from industrial projects.

Multiple actions have been taken to ensure the transformation of the zone's business and trade sectors. At the end of last year, the zone's total retail sales of consumer goods hit 17.87 billion yuan, coming out on top in Wuhan in terms of growth rate. Among them, NEV consumption rose by 217.94 percent.

Car buyers in WEDZ receive gifts and subsidies. [Photo provided to en.whkfq.gov.cn]

Since the WEDZ government rolled out the 10 policies to boost automobile consumption, more than 57 million yuan of incentive subsidies have been put in place, benefiting 15,588 local car purchasers.