The Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin recorded 22.39 billion yuan ($3.3 billion) of Regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first half of 2022, a year-on-year increase of 2.5 percent, according to the Cooperation Zone Statistics Bureau.

During the January-June period, the added value of industries above designated size reached 359 million yuan ($53 million), up 11.6 percent from the first quarter of the year, while that of the service industry grew by 2.7 percent year-on-year, driving local GDP growth by 2.5 percentage points. The stable development trends are said to show that the Cooperation Zone has effectively coordinated COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control measures with constant economic and social development.

Primary, secondary, and tertiary industries contribute 0.02, 10.8, and 89.2 percentage points respectively to local GDP. Of note, the added value of tertiary industries, especially the finance industry, increased by 8.21 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) with a year-on-year growth rate of 11 percent, accounting for 36.7 percent of the regional GDP.

Hengqin Financial Island against backdrop of the Macao Peninsula [Photo courtesy WeChat account hengqinzaixian2021]

Modern finance is one of four key industries of the Cooperation Zone, and multiple measures have been released since its establishment in September 2021 to innovate cross-border finance businesses and promote the in-depth coordination of Hengqin-Macao financial industries. They include: pilot measures to support companies issuing corporate bonds in Macao and foreign equity investment (QFLP); implementation of Guangdong-Macao cross-border data verification platform for personal data; and cross-border wealth management pilot products. 

Local tax revenue soared by 31.3 percent to 7.5 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) in the first half of the year, comprising 38.1 percent of the Cooperation Zone total. Notably, RMB and foreign currency deposit balances of domestic and foreign-funded financial institutes in the Cooperation Zone exceeded 166.8 billion yuan ($24.7 billion) as of the end of June, a year-on-year increase of 3 percent. Local loan balance rose by 38.5 percent to a record high of 164.5 billion yuan ($24.4 billion), up 2.2 percentage points from late March.

There were 2,112 newly settled enterprises in the first half of 2022, among which 391 are Macao-funded companies, accounting for 19 percent of the total. As of late June, Hengqin is home to 54,350 enterprises, including 4,934 Macao-funded ones.

To further promote attractiveness of the business environment, a "cross-border handling" work mechanism for commercial registration was launched in April. Offices at the Cooperation Zone Comprehensive Service Center and Macao’ Travessa da Paiva enable domestic and Macao investors to handle whole-process business registration affairs related to the Cooperation Zone and Macao leaving their locality.

Along with implementation of further facilitation measures for cross-border commercial services, Macao-funded enterprises are to become involved in the development and construction of the Cooperation Zone in a more in-depth, comprehensive, and thorough way.