China to introduce policies securing jobs, livelihoods

China is all set to bring new policies and improve the earlier ones to give a boost to the country after being hit by COVID-19.

Hyderabad: China is all set to bring new policies and improve the earlier ones to give a boost to the country after being hit by COVID-19.

As per Shenzhen Daily, the State Council’s executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday said that China will introduce and further improve policies to keep employment stable and ensure people's livelihoods.

The meeting took stock of the strong and targeted policy measures that government departments across the country have introduced over the recent months to drive production resumption and business development.

The policy measures included are as under:

• More VAT relief for micro, small and household businesses
• Extending the loss carry-forward period from five years to eight years for sectors severely hit by COVID-19, such as transportation, catering and tourism
• Lowering or waiving 600 billion yuan (US$85.7 billion) of employers’ contributions to the old-age pension
• Unemployment and workplace safety insurance schemes in the first half of the year
• Adopting the refund of unemployment insurance premiums for keeping payrolls stable, which has benefitted over 84 million employees
• Waiving over 140 billion yuan of road and expressway tolls, and cutting electricity and gas rates for enterprises by 67 billion yuan in the first half of the year
• Releasing 1.75 trillion yuan of funds by cutting the required reserve ratio
• Providing 2.85 trillion yuan of low-cost lending for businesses, especially micro, small and medium-sized firms and household businesses, through special relending and rediscount, encouraging State-owned large banks to issue inclusive loans to small and micro businesses, and increasing the special credit quota of policy banks
• Deferring over 1 trillion yuan of principal or interest payments for more than 1.1 million micro, small and medium-sized businesses and stepping up support for spring farming and the development of animal husbandry.

As per the report that quoted Xinhua news agency, it was also agreed at the meeting that the above measures are paying off. Production is steadily returning to the usual capacity, the difficulties facing businesses are easing, and life and work are getting back to normal.

The meeting also highlighted the need to effectively take forward the six priorities, namely, employment, people’s livelihood, the development of market entities, food and energy security, stable operation of the industrial and supply chains, and smooth functioning at the community level.

These efforts are designed to ensure stability in the six key areas, of: employment, finance, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment, and market expectations, and maintain solid economic fundamentals.