BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) Saturday announced a favorable tax policy for overseas talent working in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Based on the individual income tax differentials between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, overseas high-end talent and professionals in short supply that work in the Greater Bay Area will get subsidies from Guangdong Province and Shenzhen Municipality to offset the differentials, according to the MOF.

The subsidies will be exempt from paying individual income tax.

The policy, effective from January 2019 to the end of 2023, applies to nine cities in Guangdong -- Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing, the ministry said.

It said the move aimed to encourage the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Consisting of the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and the nine cities in Guangdong, the area covers 56,000 square km. It had a combined population of about 70 million at the end of 2017.