OREANDA-NEWS. October 24, 2011. Hefei ranked 16th as the most expensive city for business on the Chinese mainland this year, according to the latest list of the 25 Chinese mainland cities with the highest business operating cost released.

The survey covered 129 mainland cities with the municipal GDP of above 43.6 billion yuan (USD 6.84 billion) in 2010, and took into account the following five criteria: labor cost, office rent, energy prices, tax policies and employee insurance.

According to the ranking, big cities, including municipalities and provincial capitals, continue to have the highest operating costs for businesses, while the number of county-level cities on the list dropped substantially compared to last year.