(Yicai Global) July 17 -- The Chinese government will continue to push through supportive and innovative policies at the upcoming free trade port in the southern island province of Hainan, a senior official from the country’s macroeconomic planning body said today.

The government will promote a zero-tariff policy on certain imported goods to allow residents and businesses at the free trade port to benefit from an early stage, said Yan Pengcheng, head of the department of national economy at the National Development and Reform Commission.

It will also promote the relaxing of controls over cross-border services and market access, such as the negative lists for overseas investment which restricts the types of industries that foreigners can invest in, at the port.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange will study the effects of new foreign exchange policies on the country’s capital account and look at ways to facilitate cross-border financing for businesses, SAFE spokesperson Wang Chunying said.

In the month since the Chinese government laid out its plans for the transformation of the tourism hub into a globally-influential free trade port in June, there has been a 62 percent increase in new market entities registering in Hainan from a year earlier to 22,800, Yan added. Of these, the number of new businesses in information technology, software and telecommunications has increased more than five-fold.

Earlier this month, the island province lifted the annual duty-free quota for travelers to Hainan to CNY100,000 (USD14,163) from CNY30,000. Since July 1, 65,000 tourists have taken advantage of the new offers buying CNY450 million (USD64 million) worth of duty-free goods and making savings of CNY65.7 million in taxes, a gain of more than 50 percent from the average daily duty-free amount during the first half.

Hainan Free Trade Port, due to be in operation by 2025, is serving as a regulatory sandbox for the country to trial new products and services that will then be replicated in other places if they work well.

Editor: Kim Taylor