China allows more businesses to defer insurance payments

In this undated file photo, employees put finishing touches on electronic parts in an industrial park for small and medium-sized enterprises in Qira county, the autonomous region of Xinjiang Uygur in November. DING LEI XINHUA BEIJING -- China will allow more market entities - particularly small businesses - to defer payments of social insurance premiums to help COVID 19 strains, according to a government circular.

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From this month, provincial-level regions will be given the chance to allow all local individually owned businesses, public institutions, social organizations, and micro, small and medium-sized firms affected by COVID 19 to defer these payments, the circular said.

The document was jointly released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Taxation Administration.

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China expanded coverage from five sectors to 17 in late May.