Highlights of news conference of the Ministry of Finance

Govt to offer additional financial support to SMEs: Liu Wei

Providing more financial support to small and medium-sized business is of key importance for China's fiscal policy this year, Vice-Minister of Finance Liu Wei said on Thursday in Beijing.

Starting from Jan 1 the country has expanded the scope of SMEs to allow more companies enjoy tax and fee cut— especially value-added tax. Preferential tax policies for technology and innovation startups have been further extended.

China will take further measures to make it easier for SMEs to access financial support, such as raising the entrepreneurial guaranteed loan limits to 150,000 yuan to individuals and 3 million yuan for SMES.

In order to support SME development, the government will reserve 30 percent of procurement orders for SMEs, offer price deductions to fuel their competitiveness, and advance payment is under consideration as well, Liu said.

A special fund will also be allocated to SMEs to support entrepreneurship and innovation to improve their professionalism and competitiveness, as stated in the Government Work Reported delivered by Premier Li Keqiang, Liu added.