The government will waste no time in reforming the tax-rebate system, Premier Wen Jiabao said in Beijing on Friday.

The implementation of the tax rebate system in accordance with international practice has played an important role in increasing Chinese companies' competitiveness, expanding exports, pushing reform of the foreign-trade system and promoting sustainable, rapid and healthy economic development, Wen said.

However, he acknowledged that the government has failed to pay tax rebates in a timely manner to export companies in line with the rapid export growth of recent years.

The delayed payment of tax rebates has had a significant impact on the normal business of export companies, he said.

The issue has also caused problems for the country's fiscal system and the sound operation of the economy, he said.

Reliable sources said delayed tax rebates were worth more than 247 billion yuan (US$29.8 billion) as of the end of last year.

The sources said tax rebates went virtually unpaid last year in several major provinces and municipalities, and there has been a similar situation so far this year.

Economist Niu Li of the State Information Centre said tax rebates accounted for between 70 and 80 per cent of the annual profits for some companies.

Many foreign-trade companies are facing the problem of insufficient floating capital, resulting from the delays in payment of tax rebates.

To deal with this problem, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce and other government departments have agreed that these companies can borrow loans from banks by showing their refund certificates.

Loans arranged via this method have accounted for a large proportion of total loans in some areas such as the city of Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang Province, Niu said.

Some foreign companies have become increasingly reliant on this kind of loan because of the fast-growing foreign trade and the slow payment of tax rebates, he said.

"This will have a negative impact on commercial banks' business and possibly increase these banks' non-performing loans,'' he said.

The country's tax rebate quota for this year should be about 129 billion yuan (US$15.5 billion), depending on the amount of exports, Niu said. This figure is about 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion) less than the true demand if the exports grow by 10 per cent, he said.

Premier Wen said the time is ripe for the country to reform the tax rebate system given that China's economy is growing rapidly, the export situation is good and the State has sufficient reserves of foreign exchange.

The government will carry out a structural adjustment of the tax rebate rates, the average of which is currently 15 per cent, he said.

Earlier reports said the government was likely to lower the tax rebate rates by 4 percentage points and eliminate refunds for certain products.

Wen noted that the increased value-added tax and consumer tax collected from imports would be first used to pay the tax rebates.

The central financial authorities would be responsible for payment of the tax rebates owed to export companies, he said.

Under a reformed tax rebate system, the central and local governments would share the burden of the increased tax rebates, the premier said.

The government would also push forward reform of the foreign-trade system, he said.

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