Pudong New District, a burgeoning modern industrial area in east China's Shanghai Municipality, raked in 13 billion yuan (US$1.57 billion) in tax revenue during the first eight months of this year, an amount equivalent to the revenue from the whole of 2001.
This represents a rise of 30 percent over the same period last year, said sources from the local taxation bureau.
Of the total, the industrial sector contributed 5.24 billion yuan (about US$631 million), up 29 percent, while the service sector contributed 8.47 billion yuan (about US$1.02 billion), up 33 percent.
Experts believe an improved investment environment has helped attract a growing number of new businesses to Pudong since the beginning of the year.
According to the taxation bureau, these new businesses generated more than 1.5 billion yuan (about US$181 million) in tax revenue this year, becoming an important force in Pudong's revenue increase.
Foreign-funded ventures also contributed to the rise of tax revenue in Pudong, which benefits from preferential policies with a status similar to a special economic zone.
The district is now home to 6,200 overseas-financed businesses whose tax revenue amounted to 7.66 billion yuan (about US$923 million) this year, representing a 36.6 percent increase over a year ago.
(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2002)
