Jinan, capital city of East China's Shandong province, saw a dramatic growth in foreign capital utilization in 2018, as the city further opened up its financial markets, local media recently reported. 

Accordingly, Jinan's foreign capital utilization and contractual foreign investment hit a record high in 2018, increasing to 17.8 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) and 36.4 billion yuan respectively, ranking second in Shandong province. 

Industrial structure was further optimized. The actual utilized foreign capital in the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in 2018 was 367 million yuan, 5.145 billion yuan and 12.304 billion yuan respectively. 

During the year, the city signed a total of 23 foreign-invested projects with the Fortune Global 500 companies, with an investment of $8.3 billion. 

For several years, foreign investment has played an active role in economic development and promoted its foreign trade, technological progress and industrial upgrading. Jinan's capital market also provides a wide range of opportunities for foreign companies.

It has rolled out 10 measures aiming to make better use of foreign investment, with foreign-invested enterprises having the chance to get a reward, with a maximum of 10 million yuan. 

By providing a fairer and more convenient investment environment, the government hopes to attract more investment from foreign enterprises.