City launches more support for local SMEs

Shanghai has launched 22 measures to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The measures are aimed at reducing costs, helping them open up market space, boost their confidence and stimulate vitality after the shock of the COVID-19 outbreak.

SMEs in Shanghai have been developing steadily in recent years but the sudden outbreak broke that rhythm of growth, putting them under greater pressure.

According to the city statistics bureau’s fourth economic census, there are 409,000 SMEs in Shanghai with 7.432 million employees, accounting for 99.5 percent of corporate enterprises and 69.6 percent of employees.

The measures include implementing national policies of cutting or waiving social security funds, electric bills, broadband charges and state-owned housing rents, which are expected to reduce the burden on enterprises by over 100 billion yuan (US$14.34 billion). 

The city also proposes to further expand the scale of policy-based financing guarantee funds by 30 billion yuan, to newly award certificates to 5,000 high-tech enterprises throughout the year, to raise the proportion of non-divergent accounts liquidated during the year to 100 percent, and to guide service organizations to give discounts for enterprises and benefit them by no less than 50 million yuan.

The measures lay emphasis on the prominent problems and difficulties faced by SMEs at present. 

For instance, seeing obstacles faced by enterprises such as Internet cafes, travel agencies and scenic spots, the city proposes waiving broadband fees for Internet cafes for six months, and offer interest discounts on loans to travel agencies and A-class tourist attractions.

In view of the difficulties encountered by foreign trade enterprises, including lower foreign demand and reduced orders, the measures propose giving full play to the role of e-commerce platforms, better organizing online shopping festivals, and helping enterprises explore domestic and foreign markets, especially supporting domestic sales of commodities originally produced for export.

The measures also place focus on enhancing tax cuts and fee reductions, reducing the cost of production and operations, improving professional competence, and optimizing financing and administrative services for SMEs.