Li stresses strengthening key supplies

An excavator is seen unloading coal from a freight train at a port in Tangshan, Hebei province, in February. [Photo/Xinhua]

Smoother circulation urged to meet people's needs during Spring Festival

China will further strengthen the supply of coal, electricity, oil, gas, transportation services and market goods, especially during the upcoming Spring Festival, to meet the needs of economic development and people's daily lives, according to a decision by the State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.

"For some time, the supply of coal, electricity, oil, gas and transportation services has overall remained stable, consumer prices have also been stable, and steady economic growth has held. This is no easy feat," Li said. "It's important to better coordinate production, supply and sale, and ensure smoother circulation."

Normal production of coal will be maintained, and the transportation of coal for power generation and residential heating will be prioritized. Coal-fired power plants will be guided toward achieving their full operational capacity. Power generation from new energy sources will be boosted through multiple channels.

Safe, full-capacity production of domestic oil and gas fields will be promoted, and oil and gas supplies will be kept stable. Greater efforts will be made to guarantee energy supplies for winter heating in North China.

Production of meat, eggs, dairy and aquatic products will be ensured. The policy of "green lane "services for the transportation of fresh farm produce will be strictly exercised. Business enterprises, e-commerce platforms and retail outlets will be encouraged to operate as usual during Spring Festival, to increase market supplies and boost consumption.

Localities will be given guidance on the smooth operation of transportation, ensuring the provision of daily necessities, fine-tuning management of areas under lockdown, and leveraging the role of private actors and communities, while enforcing COVID-19 response measures. These measures will help ensure supplies can be smoothly delivered to people's homes.

The meeting also decided to extend another 11 preferential tax and fee policies relating to technology, job creation, business startups, medical care, education and other sectors, to the end of 2023.

"Extension of these expired tax-and fee-cut measures will deliver more widely shared benefits. Taxes and fees should be reduced as much as policies allow, to expand tax sources and nurture the tax base," Li said.

Value-added tax will be exempted for incubation services for technology firms and science and technology parks established by universities. Real estate and land used in incubation services will be exempt from real estate tax and urban land-use tax.

Conditions for certifying technology-based startups will be further relaxed, to allow more venture capital firms and individual angel investors to have their taxable income deducted in proportion to their investment in the start-ups.

Personal income tax will be exempted on subsidies and bonuses for medical staff and COVID-19 control workers, as well as on drugs and other COVID-19 prevention supplies employers provide to their employees.