Chongqing - While the Belt and Road and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor bring open opportunities to Western China, Chongqing and Chengdu announce the joint establishment of the Western Financial Center, which will play an important financial influence in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
In December 2021, the People's Bank of China, other departments and local governments jointly issued a plan to build a financial center in the Chengdu-Chongqing region by 2025.
According to the plan, the Western Financial Center intends to introduce more domestic and foreign financial institutions and encourage international financial organizations and central banks in ASEAN countries to establish representative offices in China.
The Chengdu-Chongqing region is the economic center of western China. According to statistics in 2019, the population of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle reached 96 million. In 2022, the economic circle achieved a regional gross domestic product (GDP) of approximately 7.8 trillion yuan (1.13 trillion U.S. dollars), accounting for 6.4% of the national GDP and 30.2% of China's western region.
Chengdu and Chongqing both have developed manufacturing and logistics networks. The dense population and relatively affluent economic conditions make this region an important consumer market. The financial industry will be an important means to drive this region towards high-quality development.
During World War II, Chongqing was once the financial center of China, attracting numerous domestic and foreign financial institutions that relocated from the Japanese-occupied areas. These financial institutions prospered in the local economy and provided power for producing military supplies and daily consumer goods during the war. For a long time, Chongqing and Chengdu were financial centers in Western China.