Shanghai to improve quality of growth 
2019-07-23
SHANGHAI Mayor Ying Yong said yesterday that the city will continue to improve the quality of economic growth in the second half of this year after posting stable growth in the first half.
Speaking at a meeting hosted by the Shanghai People’s Congress, the mayor said that Shanghai had posted stable economic growth in the first half, “which was in line with our expectations.”
“We should recognize positive economic fundamentals and continue to improve the quality of growth,” he said.
Shanghai’s economy expanded 5.9 percent from a year earlier in the first half, 0.2 percentage points faster than in the first quarter. The growth was led by the services sector, which grew 9.1 percent year on year.
“The key in sustaining the city’s growth lies in making investors confident and policies effective,” Ying said. “Shanghai has embraced brand-new opportunities with the three missions becoming our strategic priority.”
The three missions, as stated by President Xi Jinping, are the expansion of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, the launch of the STAR Market and the integrated growth in the Yangtze River Delta region.
Ying said Shanghai is now gearing up to charter additional policies for the expanded free trade zone to realize reform and opening-up at a higher level and a stronger institutional innovation.
“The new zone should focus on more convenient trade and investment, making breakthroughs in easier business operation, commodity clearance, capital flow, talent management and information connection,” Ying said.
The launch of the STAR Market was “a remarkable move to merge the construction of Shanghai as a financial center and an innovation center for science and technology,” Ying said.
