Shanghai has improved its business sector substantially over the years. The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2020 reveals a 55% weight has hugely contributed to its business development.
Shanghai Vice Mayor Chen Yin proudly shared that out of the 10 indicators assessed by the bank, eight of them ranked in the top 60 globally and five in the top 30. He quipped that this is an indicator how the business environment reform in China has made good progress in terms of depth and effectiveness.
It was in the 1990’s when Deng Xiaoping introduced economic reforms in Shanghai. Its aftermath was an intense redevelopment of the Pudong district which signaled the return of finance and foreign investment to the city. It was in this period when Shanghai’s resurgence as a hub for international trade and finance happened. It became home to one of the largest stock exchanges in the world by market capitalization, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and also the first free-trade zone in China, Shanghai Free-Trade Zone.
In 2009, the trading volume of six key commodities—Rubber, copper, and zinc and other six key commodities ranked first globally in 2009 and by the end of 2017, Shanghai had 1,491 financial institutions, of which 251 were foreign-invested.
As of 2019, the Shanghai Stock Exchange was the largest largest stock exchange in China and the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world.
Shanghai has gone up in the ranks for protecting minority investors indicator; starting a business;getting electricity and in enforcing contracts.
In fact the five licenses previously required to start and operate a new business have been combined into one license. Sure it saves time and money not to get the business license, the organization code certification, the tax registration, the statistics registration and the social welfare insurance registration separately.
It also climbed up the ladder in trading across borders and resolving insolvency. The city also went up nine places for paying taxes.
However, Shanghai fell short for registering property and for getting credit, ranking 28th and 80th globally.
Deputy director of the city’s development and reform commission, hu Min explains why in some elements appeared negative in the report. First, some of the reforms in the city were launched a little late while some other reforms had not been publicized at all.
Chen emphasized that a good business environment is about productivity. It has come to a realization that optimizing systems can be more effective in attracting investment and promoting employment. Thus working towards a positive effect on economic development.
Despite the complicated international situation and the downward pressure on the economy being faced head on by Shanghai, its economy thrives to maintain a stable growth in the first three quarters of this year.
