Shanghai to be international financial and shipping centre by 2020

Technorati Tags: Baltic Dry Index,Baltic Dry Indices,Ship Chartering,Shipchartering,Voyage Fixtures,Time Charter Fixtures,Panamax,Capesize,Handymax,Handysize,Supramax,Dry Cargo Fixtures,Bulk Cargo Fixtures,Baltic Exchange,Freight Review,Maritime Baltic Index,TNT Freight Review,Shanghai Financial Capital,China State Council,Shanghai Shipping Centre

Beijing: China’s State Council yesterday gave the green signal to speed up the process of turning Shanghai into a major international financial and shipping center by 2020, write China Daily and Xinhua.
"Accelerating Shanghai's development in modern services, manufacturing, finance and shipping would be of great advantage for the Yangtze River Delta and the whole nation at large," the council said at an executive meeting.
It urged Shanghai to be developed into a multi-functional financial center by 2020 to keep up with "China's economic influence and the yuan's international position." To achieve the target, Shanghai would be required to open up more financial sectors and improve services.
Shanghai can now expect strong growth momentum after the city's industrial output dropped by as much as 12.7% year-on-year in the first two months of the year due to dwindling exports.
Shanghai's GDP growth dropped to 9.7% year-on-year in 2008, the first time it fell below 10% since 1992.  [26/03/09]