Shanghai's annual GDP tops 4 trillion yuan for second straight year

Shanghai's annual gross domestic product in 2022 surpassed the 4-trillion-yuan (US$590 billion) mark for the second consecutive year, according to the government work report released during the first session of the 16th Shanghai People's Congress, which opened on Wednesday.

Over the past year, revenue from the local general public budget reached 760.8 billion yuan, while total financial market transactions expanded from 1.428 quadrillion yuan in 2017 to nearly 3 quadrillion yuan.

Port trade volume, meanwhile, exceeded 10 trillion yuan in total and increased its share in the world to about 3.6 percent, maintaining Shanghai's top position among global cities. And the container throughput of Shanghai Port added up to 47.303 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), ranking first in the world for 13 years in a row.

Shanghai has also laid greater emphasis on research and development, with the ratio of social expenditure on R&D to the city's GDP jumping to 4.2 percent, and the number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people reaching about 40.

The reform and opening up has also taken significant steps.

The city's Pudong New Area, a pioneering area of socialist modernization, has further developed from a high starting point; a total of 36 cases of national firsts have been formed in the Lingang Special Area of the city's pilot free trade zone; the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region has been elevated to a national strategy and has taken deeper roots; and the China International Import Expo has been successfully held for five consecutive years.

The total imports and exports of foreign trade also exceeded 4 trillion yuan for two straight years, while the actual use of foreign investment topped US$103 billion cumulatively over the past five years, an increase of 15.8 percent compared with the previous five-year period.

A total of 266 regional headquarters and 105 R&D centers of multinational enterprises were newly added in the city, bringing the total numbers to 891 and 531, respectively.