Data newly released by the Nanjing government has shone a light on progress made across a range of fields during 2015. From foreign investment to environmental standards, the long overdue information is a welcome addition to the toolkit of anyone in any way involved with the promotion of Nanjing, for their own interest or otherwise.
While the latest figures paint a predictably pretty picture of life in the southern capital; being a product of local government, they are also a long way from being mere propaganda. This is reflected in the “City Momentum Index 2016”, published by well-known international real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle; four Chinese cities are placed in the top 20. Nanjing ranks 15.
If China as a whole is slowing, that does not seem to be applying to Nanjing; the city’s Gross Domestic Product in 2015 grew by 10.2 percent to stand at ¥972.077 billion. The retail sector saw a similarly strong performance, with Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods rising by 10.15 percent to ¥459.017 billion.
Showing improvement across the board, Nanjing’s exports included 23.8 percent for high tech goods, essentially flat over last year, and 51.2 percent for electro-mechanical products, representing a slight increase year on year. Outsourcing saw steady growth in 2015, with Nanjing delivering US$13 billion in outsourcing services, an increase of 13.6 percent, among which offshore outsourcing amounted to US$6.06 billion, an increase of 25.1 percent.
Nanjing is accelerating its “Going Global” strategy, with, in 2015, 170 new foreign invested projects, up 54.6 percent on the previous year, representing a total contract volume of over US$2 billion, up 40.6 percent and top in Jiangsu province, and a turnover of US$3.334 billion, representing an increase of 17.4 percent.
Nanjing’s financial market development trend in 2015 was very positive, with a financial added value topping ¥100 billion to reach ¥112.223 billion, 11.5 percent of local GDP, while the service sector became the city’s largest, accounting for 20 percent.
In 2015, visitors to Nanjing for the first time exceeded 100 million, to amount to 102 million, bringing in a total tourism income of ¥168.8 billion, accounting for a proportion of the city’s GDP that surpassed 7 percent for the first time. Cultural and related industries accounted for 6 percent of GDP.
Yet, it was the environmental sector which revealed news which will be the most pleasing for many. As Nanjing residents may have surmised for some time, the new official figures show the average concentration of PM2.5 in built-up areas fell by 23 percent in 2015. Elsewhere, green coverage of the urban area rose to 44.1 percent.
There was also excellent news on the public transportation front. With great efforts made in recent years to move the city’s bus network toward sustainability, as of 2015 a total of 8,359 buses were in operation, for which electric and gas power accounted for 4,335, showing that more than 50 percent of Nanjing’s buses use clean energy.
