Yangtze River Delta cities roll out supportive policies for small enterprises

HANGZHOU, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Major cities in China's Yangtze River Delta, a private economic hub, have rolled out a series of measures to alleviate the cash crunch faced by small and micro enterprises caused by the recent COVID-19 resurgence.

Fiscal policies such as tax and fee reductions, an extension of the deadline for filing tax returns, and rent concessions have been introduced for tens of thousands of private enterprises and individual entrepreneurs.

The policies are clear-cut in terms of measures concerning finance, logistics and information to support the recovery of the retail industry, and involve responsible government departments for the convenience of enterprises, said Ding Zuohong, chairman of the board of directors of Yuexing Group in Shanghai.

Preliminary estimates show that tax-related measures taken by Shanghai could reduce the burden on related industries and enterprises by approximately 140 billion yuan (around 22 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022.

At least three major cities in the Yangtze River Delta - Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou - have issued policies to facilitate financing guarantees, provide interest rate subsidies, and guide financial institutions to grant more loans for small and micro enterprises in an effort to alleviate financial strains.

Benefiting from targeted measures for the services industry, which has been severely impacted by the epidemic, sectors such as catering, retail, tourism, transportation and exhibitions have seen an improving financing environment.

Zhejiang Province has proposed that it would provide free regular nucleic acid testing for employees of catering enterprises, and accept deferred payments of unemployment insurance premiums for eligible retail enterprises. Hangzhou, the provincial capital, has proposed that it would partially exempt public transportation services providers from value-added tax.

Shanghai has encouraged government-backed financing guarantee institutions to provide credit support for travel agencies, and it has been mulling subsidies for the exhibitions industry.