Economic Census

Results of China’s fourth national economic census were released on November 20, showing that the country’s economic structure continued to improve between 2013 and 2018.

At the end of 2018, the aggregate business capital in the secondary and tertiary industries reached 914.2 trillion yuan ($130.38 trillion). The secondary industry, which includes industrial and construction enterprises, accounted for 19 percent of the total assets, while the tertiary industry, or the service sector, accounted for the remaining 81 percent.

There were 18.57 million corporations in the secondary and tertiary industries at the end of

2018, of which 98.8 percent were domestically funded companies,

0.6 percent were corporations with investment from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and 0.6 percent were foreign-funded enterprises.

The secondary and tertiary industries employed a total of 383.24 million people at the end of 2018, up 7.6 percent from the end of 2013.

The economic census, launched every five years, is one of China’s major censuses of national conditions. It covers all business entities involved in the secondary and tertiary industries. The fourth census started in late 2018.

Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) Agreement on Trade in Services was signed by Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Bingnan and Financial Secretary of HKSAR Paul Chan.

The new agreement updates the commitments on liberalization and facilitation of trade in services under the CEPA Agreement on Trade in Services implemented in June 2016, and lowers the mainland market access thresholds for Hong Kong enterprises and professionals, in response to the proposals of the Hong Kong business community for more participation in the development of the mainland market, the Trade and Industry Department of HKSAR said in a press release on November 21.

The amendment introduces new liberalization measures in a number of important services sectors such as financial services, legal services, construction and related engineering services, testing and certification, television, motion pictures and tourism. They include removing or relaxing restrictions on equity shareholding, capital requirements and business scope for the establishment of enterprises; lowering qualification requirements for provision of services by Hong Kong professionals; and easing the quantitative and other restrictions for Hong Kong's export of services to the mainland market.

The new agreement will go into effect on June 1, 2020.