Small firms to get 3 bln yuan in annual support

: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, February 8, 2012

Adjust font size:

China's small firms will get 3 billion yuan in government support every year for the next five years. [CFP]

China's small and medium-sized enterprises are expected to get an annual 3-billion-yuan in government support over the next five years among many other policies tailored for boosting the development of these firms, an official said on Tuesday.

"The Ministry of Finance will allocate 3 billion yuan every year over the next five years and the State Council will release policy documents on further development of SMEs in the near future," said Zhu Hongren, spokesman and chief engineer at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

China's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have faced higher production and labor costs and an unfavorable global economic enviroment in recent years. However, domestsic SMEs are unlikely to shut down on a large scale this year, said Zhu.

The State Council has urged more support for the development of smaller companies. On Feb 1, the State Council discussed the issue at an executive meeting and announced that the government would further support SMEs by establishing a 15-billion-yuan fund.

Small companies "serve as a significant channel for creating jobs, a major platform for the growth of entrepreneurship and an important force for scientific innovation", according to a statement released on Feb 1 after a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

According to the MIIT, Chinese exports had shrinked, with export shipments up only 16.6 percent in 2011, slower than in previous years. Domestically, demand for vehicles and real estate will remain in a slow-growth mode, and SMEs will face greater challenges than big enterprises, it said.

According to Zhu, starting last year, the government has paid special attention to this issue to support the development and modernization of SMEs. "Labor-intensive SMEs have no core competitive technology and were hit the hardest during the financial crisis," said Zhu.

Apart from the financial support, the central government will also establish 4,000 public service platforms for SMEs, including 500 national level platforms.