Major cities in China's Yangtze River Delta, a major economic hub centered around east China's Shanghai, have rolled out a series of measures to alleviate the cash crunch faced by small and micro enterprises due to the recent COVID-19 resurgence.

Fiscal policies such as tax and fee reductions, an extension of the deadline for filing tax returns, and rent concessions have been introduced for tens of thousands of private enterprises and individual entrepreneurs.

Preliminary estimates show that tax-related measures taken by Shanghai could reduce the burden on related industries and enterprises by approximately 140 billion yuan (around $22 billion) this year.

The policies are clear-cut in terms of measures concerning finance, logistics and information to support the recovery of the retail industry, and involve government departments for the convenience of enterprises, said Ding Zuohong, chairman of the board of directors of Yuexing Group in Shanghai.

Two Global Harbor shopping malls of Yuexing Group, one in Shanghai and another in Changzhou City in Jiangsu Province, have halved rentals, management fees and energy bills for shops. 

At least three major cities in the Yangtze River Delta – Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou – have made policies to facilitate financing guarantees as well as subsidies on interest besides guiding financial institutions to grant more loans to small and micro enterprises.

Zhejiang Province has proposed that it would provide free regular nucleic acid testing for employees of catering enterprises and accept deferred payments of unemployment insurance premiums for eligible retail enterprises. Its provincial capital Hangzhou has proposed that it would partially exempt public transportation services providers from value-added tax.

Shanghai has encouraged government-backed financing guarantee institutions to provide credit support for travel agencies, and it has been mulling subsidies for the exhibitions industry.

(With input from Xinhua)