Aerial photo taken on Jan. 12, 2021 shows sailing athletes attending winter training in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

Hainan's economic growth has been accelerating as the country's largest free trade port has been established, which helps the island's service revenues taking up a bigger share of the province's economy, according to Hainan' s bureau of statistics.

From June to December 2020, fixed assets investment in Hainan increased 10 percent year-on-year, and retail sale was up 15.7 percent. For the whole year of 2020, Hainan's real GDP grew 3.5 percent from the previous year, fixed assets investment was up 8 percent and retail sale was up 1.2 percent.

It also marks the first time that the three key economic indicators outperform the national average indicators since 2018, when Hainan worked out stricter regulation on real estate development in the island. 

The service sector has taken a much bigger share of Hainan's economy in the past year. According to Hainan Bureau of Statistics, service sector has become the mainstay of Hainan's economy, contributing 95.8 percent of the provinces gross economic growth in 2020. 

According to China's central government plan, a free trade port system focusing on trade and investment liberalization and facilitation will be fully phased in Hainan by 2025, and perfected by 2035.

The Hainan free trade port was decided by the central government on June 1, 2020. A total of 2,047 foreign companies were registered in South China's Hainan Province from January to August, skyrocketing 290 percent year on year, demonstrating the magnet of the island in attracting international businesses, according to a report by Hainan Daily, citing Haikou customs.

Data shows 1,524 foreign companies have been registered in Hainan since the plan to build the Hainan free trade port was announced on June 1.

Global Times