The annual regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin went up by 8.5 percent year-on-year to 45.46 billion yuan ($7.15 billion) in 2021, a growth rate of 0.4, 0.5, and 1.6 percentage points higher than the national, provincial, and municipal average.

The two-year average growth rate stood at 6.3 percent, signifying a steady momentum for Hengqin's economic situation, the zone's Statistics Bureau reported Jan 29.

Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin [File photo by Li Jianshu / Zhuhai Media Group]

General public budget revenue rose by 14.3 percent to 10.87 billion yuan ($1.71 billion) in 2021 and the figure since the zone's establishment in September 2021 was 2.58 billion yuan ($404.97 million).

Fixed-asset investments grew by 12.9 percent year-on-year. Of note is that investments for education expanded by 76.2 percent, contributing to its high-quality development.

The zone was home to 54,437 business entities by the end of December. Among the 7,366 foreign-funded companies, 4,761 are invested by Macao parties. Number of newcomers in December was 530, 62 of them were Macao-funded.

The operating revenue of service industries above designated size climbed up by 37 percent to 29 billion yuan ($5 billion) from January to November 2021.

Total retail sales of consumer goods amounted to 1.49 billion yuan ($233.61 million) last year and the figure for wholesale and retail hit a record high of 1.02 trillion yuan ($16 billion) with a year-on-year increase of 26.3 percent.

Total volume of cross-border renminbi settlement during the January-December period increased by 47.9 percent to 232.12 billion yuan ($36.49 billion) and the added value of the zone's financial industry grew by 10.3 percent compared with the same period last year.

Total import and export volume soared 53.3 percent to 31.47 billion yuan ($4.95 billion) in 2021. The export volume increased by 52.2 percent to 13.98 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) while import volume was up 54.1 percent to 17.49 billion yuan ($2.75 billion).

Young talents played a vital role in the zone's development as 60.4 percent of its employees were under the age of 35 as of the end of 2021. Hengqin's employed urban population grew by 2,544 and the registered unemployment rate was down to 1.71 percent.