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Dalian publicized new policies to weather the crisis
By Zhu Chengpei and Zhang Xiaomin (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-11 11:36

DALIAN: The municipal government publicized new polices on Tuesday to help local companies cope with the ongoing global economic downturn.

With the new policies, the port city in Northeast China aims to guarantee the economic growth, expand domestic demand, readjust the industrial structures, and accelerate the social development, Sun Guangtian, deputy mayor of Dalian, told more than 1,500 representatives with local companies at the conference Tuesday.

"Even though we are facing a more severe economic situation this year, we plan to make a year-on-year increase of 14 percent for our gross domestic product (GDP)," said Sun.

Primary statistics show the city's GDP in 2008 reached 385.82 billion yuan (USD 56.7 billion), up 16.5 percent from the previous year. The annual volume of self-support import and export increased to 44.9 billion yuan (USD 6.6 billion), up 23.4 percent.

"According to data from the Customs, the monthly import and export volume has declined for three straight months at the fourth quarter of 2008," said Tian Deming, Deputy Commissioner of Dalian Customs.

Tian introduced Dalian Customs has made some adjustment to better serve the local economy in the current situation.

"We have cancelled or reduced the export tariff for some 156 products like alloy steel, corn, and chemical fertilizer," he said.

The Dalian Branch of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) is scheduled to organize 94 economic and trade events in 2009 to provide business opportunities and promote business exchanges, according to Li Bozhou, head of the Dalian branch.

Some government institutions, like the municipal finance office and the SME bureau are providing financial support to the small-and medium-sized companies.

The city's hi-tech industrial zone is to set up a 400m-yuan emergency funding to guarantee economic growth. The funding is mainly to support the capital shortage caused by technical reconstruction, innovation, and expansion.

In January, the municipal government cut 65 administrative fees. The local companies and citizens can benefit a fee reduction of 238.64 million yuan from the cancellation.

"Dalian has made great efforts in improving the investment environment in recent years. We hope the new policies can help our companies weather the current financial crisis," said Sun Guangtian.

The new policies were echoed with the local companies.

“We have seen a sharp decline of orders since last October,” said Zhu Haiyan, Sales Manager of Dalian Union Polymer Material Co Ltd.

“And it has become difficult to ask our clients pay the bills in time,” she said.

Zhu believes her company can benefit from some policies like the raise of tax refund rates and export credit insurance.

“It will lower the risk of the receipt of proceeds,” Zhu said.