Reduce operating costs

During the prevention and control of the epidemic, a supportive two-part electricity price policy was adopted to reduce the electricity costs of enterprises. During the epidemic period, the electricity and gas supply will not be suspended for the SMEs in arrears. Within 2 months after the end of the epidemic, the enterprise could pay without late fee. The government will trim electricity charges by five percent for industrial and commercial companies not from high energy-consuming industries.

Noteworthy measures:

• Guiyang, Guizhou Province: For the enterprises in commerce, accommodation, catering, tourism, culture and entertainment industries that have been severely affected by the epidemic, their consumption of water and electricity during the period from February to the end of the epidemic will be subsidized at 30% of the sales catalogue price.

Encourage SMEs more involved in public procurement

Central or local governments will exert more effort to engage SMEs in public procurement by guiding budget departments at all levels to increase their focus on SMEs and increasing the SMEs’ amount and proportion in procurement. As for the procurement projects related to epidemic prevention and control, priority will be given to SMEs with good credit under the same conditions.

Noteworthy measures:

• Dongcheng District of Beijing: The budget departments are required to ensure that SMEs account for 30% of the total annual government procurement, of which set-aside for small and micro enterprises is no less than 60%.

Sustain the export business of SMEs

If SMEs find it impossible to fulfil the international trade contract on schedule or fail to fulfil on time due to epidemic outbreak, the local government and the CCPIT shall actively help them apply for factual proof of force majeure. The premiums of policy-based export credit insurance for small and micro export enterprises will be fully subsidized, and insurance coverage will be expanded as well. In addition, it is required that all the eligible claims will be fully settled.

Noteworthy measures:

• Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province: The cross-border e-commerce enterprises are encouraged to reshape overseas markets, and those whose annual online sales income exceed 500,000 US dollars will be subsidized with 50% of overseas promotion expenses and the maximum subsidy is no more than 500,000 yuan.

Encourage large enterprises to cooperate with SMEs

Large enterprises are required to increase their support for SMEs in the industrial chain in terms of loan recovery, raw material supply, and project outsourcing. State-owned enterprises and leading enterprises in the industries should play an active role in cooperate with the SMEs in epidemic prevention and control, production recovery and technological innovation. If an SME has signed a contract with a state-owned enterprise and cannot fulfill its contractual obligations on time due to the epidemic, the term of performance may be extended appropriately, and the specific period is determined by the two parties through consultation.

Noteworthy measures: 

• Alibaba and fintech firm Ant Financial announced 20 measures on February10, to mitigate the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak on SMEs, which includes waiving service charges, offering low-interest loans, promoting job-sharing, subsidizing logistics and providing digital service and etc. 

• JD.com launched the "Assistance Program for SMEs" on February 21 with 13 assistance measures from four dimensions: resuming work, marketing, stabilizing funds, and enterprise assistance alliances, and nearly 500 million yuan has been investing as subsidies to help struggling SMEs roll out of the difficult situation caused by outbreak of novel coronavirus.