(File photo: VCG)

Shanghai just released its main economic indicators of 2018, showing that its per capita GDP is 135,305.25 yuan ($20,400).

In 1978, Shanghai's per capita GDP was $1,444. Until 2009, a period of 30 years, the per capita GDP jumped to $10,000. However, a decade later, this indicator soared from $10,000 to $20,000.

From the academic community's perspective, in large industrialized economies, once per capita GDP exceeds Greece or Slovakia, the economy will be recognized as advanced. In the 2018 global per capita GDP ranking forecast, Slovakia is $19,100 and Greece is $20,500. Shanghai got its ticket to enter the "developed" club.

The statistics show that, driven by the first China International Import Expo (CIIE), the total import and export of Shanghai's goods was $500 billion, up 5.5% percent over the previous year. Imports were $299 billion, an increase of 6.4 percent; exports were $201 billion, an increase of 4.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the city's foreign direct investment contract projects were 5,597, an increase of 41.7 percent over the previous year; the total contract amount is $47 billion, an increase of 16.8 percent.

Among the three major industries in Shanghai, the added value of the tertiary industry was $336 billion, an increase of 8.7 percent, and the growth rate was higher than its GDP growth rate of 6.6 percent. The added value of the tertiary industry accounted for 69.9 percent of the city's GDP, an increase of 0.7 percentage points over the previous year.

At the first CIIE, President Xi Jinping put forward three major policies for Shanghai: expanding the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone to include a new section, launching a science and technology innovation board at the Shanghai Stock Exchange and supporting integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region

The plan to launch a science and technology innovation board at the Shanghai Stock Exchange was approved during the sixth meeting of the central committee for deepening overall reform on January 24.

The three major policies and a series of actions to further improve business environment by the local government will bring new opportunities to Shanghai.

(Compiled by Wang Xiangyu)