China is to dramatically expand the size of a free-trade zone (FTZ) in Shanghai to include the city’s commercial center, where major multinational companies and Chinese banks have their headquarters, state media reported.
Xinhua news agency cited the conclusion of the 12th meeting of the National People’s Congress on Friday, but it did not given a date for the formal expansion nor mention any new policies for the zone.
Under the plan, the zone will be enlarged to include the Lujiazui financial district, Shanghai’s riverside commercial centre and home to its tallest skyscrapers. It is to include the Jinqiao and Zhangjiang districts nearby.
The expansion will allow companies in those areas to take advantage of existing preferential policies for companies in the free trade zone and it fulfils a government commitment to expand the zone once conditions were deemed ripe.
The zone was launched last year to much fanfare, but it has failed to live up to expectations.
Media reports predicting that opening the FTZ would be followed by deep liberalization to China’s capital account, the scrapping of wide restrictions on foreign investment, and even the lowering of China’s censorship firewall inside the zone went largely unfulfilled.
At the same time, the leadership gave the green light to many projects outside the zone that duplicated or exceeded the policy benefits the Shanghai municipal government hoped would remain exclusive.
Not only did Beijing authorize competing zones in other cities, it also launched nationwide pilots testing liberalization for currency controls and cross-border investment that diminished the zone’s relative appeal.
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