SMEs play vital role in economy

People in Beijing have been quietly, and not so quietly, saying that for all its ups and downs, 2008 has still not seen its most daunting challenge to the economy.

But what will 2009's challenge be like? At the moment, people do not seem to have enough data to quantify. But one thing is sure: China cannot rest assured on the 4 trillion yuan ($600 billion) stimulus package.

A large investment in public infrastructure is necessary - for generating off-farm jobs and for workers to send money to their relatives in their home villages. But by nature, they are future development plans, not contingency ones. Many of them, if not all, had already been planned in engineering and fiscal budgets to match future development demands. The only difference is that in order to resist the global financial crisis and its repercussions, the launch date of the projects may have been moved forward.