Guangdong ramps up efforts to lure more foreign investors

South China’s Guangdong province will take multiple supportive measures to attract more multinational companies to establish regional headquarters, which will facilitate the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and a higher level of opening-up.

Preferential incentives will be issued to stimulate research and development by multinational firms. Eligible regional headquarters will get financial support of up to 100 million yuan ($15.46 million).

As of December 2020, Guangdong has 350 of the world's top 500 enterprises which have invested in more than 2,400 companies in the province, with a combined registered capital of more than $180.7 billion.

Guangdong ranks third in terms of investment from the world's top 500 companies, following Beijing and Shanghai.

In the first eight months of 2021, foreign direct investment (FDI) into Guangdong province in actual use reached 118.08 billion yuan, with an increase of 14.3 percent year on year and average growth of 7.1 percent for the past two years.

During the period, FDI in the service industry came in at 96.15 billion yuan, up 18.1 percent YOY, with foreign investment in the high-tech services sector rising 62.2 percent to 32.81 billion yuan.