Shanghai announces 22 policies to boost economy

WANG GANG The Shanghai municipal government has given a boost to market confidence by announcing 22 favorable policies on Wednesday, which will help maintain the strong momentum in the economic recovery, local officials said.

At a news conference, Wu Qing, Shanghai's executive vice-mayor, said the 22 policies will boost market demand, stabilize growth, inject more vitality into market entities and improve the business environment.

Industry hard hit by the resurgence of COVID 19 cases, including cultural, tourism, sports, exhibition, advertising and civil aviation, will likely benefit the most, according to observers.

The organizers holding economic and technology fairs in Shanghai this year will be granted a maximum of 1 million yuan $138,336 subsidy each, said Wu.

The Shanghai government will give 100,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan each as incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises that are recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as niche-sector leaders with high market share and strong innovation capacity.

The city will reward key high-tech companies with a maximum of 500,000 yuan for technology innovation. According to Zhang Hongtao, chief engineer of the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization, the government's fiscal subsidies for technology upgrades of major projects in key areas have been raised to 100 million yuan, an extension of the previous raise to 50 million yuan in May.

According to Zhang, companies are encouraged to enter emerging sectors like metaverse, green transformation and smart devices to help Shanghai achieve high-quality economic growth.

The export tax rebate processing time will be shortened while Customs clearance efficiency should be improved in order to stabilize trade, said Zhang Guohua, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce.

He said that the city's government will come up with new business soliciting models to allow more multinational companies to set up regional headquarters and research centers.

This year is the third time that Shanghai has introduced measures to stimulate economic growth. The first 21 measures were rolled out in late March and another 50 measures were announced in late May.

Since then, a lot has been made. The Shanghai Bureau of Statistics data showed that the average added value of industrial companies with annual sales revenue of at least 20 million yuan each increased 16.1 percent year-on-year in August.

The total imports and exports of the city went up 15.8 percent year-on-year to reach 415 billion yuan. Total retail sales of consumer goods increased 2.5 percent year-on-year, while fixed asset investment increased 9.9 percent year-on-year.

The research done by the municipal government shows that companies still have high expectations for more efficient supportive policies over the past few months. The companies facing stiffer operational difficulties are particularly susceptible to this, said Wu.

The measures introduced on Wednesday by Shanghai represent an upgrade of previous measures, as they are a critical moment in the national effort to further stabilize economic growth.

He said that a clear and firm supportive policy environment can help offset external uncertainties.