Qianhai outperformed many world economies to rank 22nd in the 2019 World Business Environment list by a London-based consulting firm, up nine spots from the 2018 rankings.
The list, released April 27, is based on the results of a survey on the business environment in 190 world economies by London-headquartered Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC).
Qianhai last year has made improvements in many of the assessment indicators of the list, according to Wang Bin, managing partner of PwC’s Guangdong market.
“Qianhai has made it to the top 10 in the assessment indicators of ‘contract fulfillment’ and ‘access to electricity,’ while its performances in ‘business startups’ and ‘construction permit acquisition’ assessment were among the world’s top 20,” said Wang.
Qianhai was ranked 31st in the 2018 list.
The improvement of the business environment would not have been made possible without the institutional innovations that the Qianhai authority has been committed to since the establishment of the free trade area.
According to official statistics, Qianhai has rolled out 106 institutional innovations last year, bringing the total number to 520 in five years’ time. Of them, 50 have been promoted nationwide, five in the Greater Bay Area, 69 in Guangdong Province and 166 have been duplicated for use in Shenzhen.
It has topped the country for the past two years in the national innovation index compiled by the Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University.
Many of the institutional institutions have been formulated to improve its business environment.
The “one-window service” for business registration is one of the innovative practices adopted in Qianhai that allows business-related affairs, such as business registration, corporate invoice applications and official seal engraving, to be completed in just one working day, following efforts by the Qianhai authority to share business information among various departments including public security, taxation, social security and banks.
A one-stop service has also been adopted to let Hong Kong enterprises and individuals intending to register a company in Qianhai to complete the registration procedures at any one of the designated banks of the service in Hong Kong without needing to travel to Shenzhen.
The simplified registration procedures have attracted nearly 1,400 new Hong Kong-funded enterprises to register in Qianhai last year, bringing in 88 billion yuan (US$12.4 billion) in registered capital.
The added value of Qianhai-registered enterprises has increased to 256.66 billion yuan, a 150-percent growth, while its tax revenue has tripled, over the past five years. By the end of 2019, Qianhai has been home to 12,102 Hong Kong-funded companies, up 420 percent from 2,313 at the end of 2015.
The actual use of foreign investment in Qianhai has jumped to 29.49 billion yuan and the total volume of imports and exports has increased to 872.19 billion yuan, up 86.5 percent and 52.1 percent, respectively, compared to five years ago.
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