Chongqing- Southwestern China's Chongqing Municipality will seize opportunities to promote high-quality investment attraction this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic and complicated economic situation, local authorities said on April 19. 

The investment results of last year exceeded the annual target with continuing optimization of investment structure, said Xie Xiaogang, Deputy Director of Chongqing Investment Promotion Bureau. 

In 2021, the actual completion of formal contracts amounted to 1.73 trillion yuan, while the funds in place reached 360 billion yuan, completing 108% and 113% of the annual target, respectively. 

Among them, the strategic emerging industry projects were about 19%, the industrial pillar industry occupied about 25%, the technological innovation was about 1.4%, and the modern service industry accounted for 32%.

Chongqing's investment in Q1 2022. (iChongqing/ Chen Zhan)

In the first quarter (Q1), the investment of Chongqing saw an outstanding result with the 670 newly-signed projects worth 447 billion yuan, increased by 29.3% and 14.3% year-on-year, respectively,

There are 383 industrial investment projects with 250.06 billion yuan, going up 65.8% and 30.6% year on year. Two hundred twenty-four new investment projects were started with a year-on-year rise of 76.4%.

Regarding the critical investment plans for 2022, Xie said that Chongqing would increase investment in crucial sectors to accelerate the relevant industrial clusters, like intelligent new energy vehicles, electronics, software, biomedicine, and consumer goods. Regional cooperation is another aspect the government will focus on. The cooperation of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle and Shandong-Chongqing are essential for joint investment promotion. 

Investment crucial sectors in Chongqing for 2022. (iChongqing/ Chen Zhan)

Xie stressed that it has to strengthen foreign capital and enterprises' investment to continuously improve the introduction and utilization of domestic and foreign capital. 

According to Xinhua news, the actual use of foreign investment nationwide in Q1 was 379.87 billion yuan, up 25.6% yearly. 

Data from the Ministry of Commerce show that the actual use of foreign investment in eastern, central, and western China in Q1 (the first quarter) increased by 23.4%, 60.7%, and 21.9% year on year, respectively. 21 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in the country achieved double-digit growth in actual foreign investment. 

Statistics reflect China's broad market opportunities despite the COVID-19 pandemic and complicated economic situation. "China's economic growth target is set at around 5.5 percent this year, which is still well above the likely growth rate of major economies, making foreign companies more confident in their development in China," said an official.