China to continue with credit policy tools to help small businesses

BEIJING -- China will continue with two credit policy tools to provide financial support to small and micro-sized companies next year, according to a State Council meeting on Monday.

China will continue with the policy, which allows small and micro-sized businesses to postpone principal and interest repayments on inclusive loans in the first quarter of next year, and will extend the policy period as appropriate, according to the meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.

Incentives will be put in place for local banks that provide inclusive loans for micro and small enterprises with a deferred repayment period of no less than six months. The incentives will remain at 1 percent of the loan principal.

The inclusive credit loan support program, the other policy instrument, will be extended from the end of this year as appropriate to help small businesses stabilize their operations, the meeting said.

The implementation of the two targeted credit instruments has benefited over 3.1 million small and micro-sized market entities, played a positive role in alleviating financial pressure on enterprises, and ensured market entities and secured employment, the meeting said.

The meeting also passed two draft regulations, one on preventing and handling illegal fundraising, and the other on the supervision of medical equipment.

China will use the rule of law to strengthen supervision in key areas to prevent and diffuse risks, while protecting people's legitimate rights and interests, according to the meeting.

The draft regulations on preventing and handling illegal fundraising stipulates that provincial-level government should take overall responsibility for relevant work in their administrative regions, while setting strict rules on the consequences for those participating in illegal fundraising.

The meeting also urged the strictest supervision of medical equipment that relates to people's health and life safety. Product labels for tracing equipment will be launched and fines for illegal behavior regarding quality safety will be significantly increased, according to the meeting.