Opinion

1. Helping SMEs tackle financing challenges

Small and micro enterprises, with their agility in innovation, market responsiveness, and diverse niche expertise, play vital roles in advancing technological progress, creating jobs, and enriching cultural sectors. China will further step up financing support for small and micro enterprises by increasing financing supply, lowering financing costs, and enhancing the precision of supportive measures, according to a guideline jointly issued by the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the People's Bank of China, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments. The guideline proposes 23 concrete measures to boost financing for small and micro firms.

2. Tax revenue growth a signal of economic recovery

China’s positive economic trend has bolstered tax revenue. The country’s tax revenue increased by 1.9 percent year-on-year in April, marking a shift from decline to growth, official data showed. This hard-won progress indicates China’s economic resilience and stable growth, while a further recovery requires solid foundation. It is imperative to intensify both the scale and pace of fiscal expenditures, implementing a more proactive policy to foster sustained and sound economic development.

Policy

1. The guideline to facilitate business relocation registration was released jointly by the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and State Taxation Administration. The guideline aims to reduce companies’ administrative burdens through a “single application, streamlined process, one-time approval” mechanism.

2. China will trial a policy granting ordinary passport holders from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain visa-free entry into China up to 30 days from June 9, 2025, to June 8, 2026. Nationals from these four countries traveling to China for business, sightseeing, visiting relatives or friends, exchanges or transit for up to 30 days will not be required to obtain a visa for entry.

3. China rolled out an action plan on May 26 to accelerate the development of digital and intelligent supply chains as part of broader efforts to modernize them. The action plan, jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, and six other departments, advocates adopting cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and blockchain to drive digitalization, intelligentization and visualization of supply chains. The plan vows to improve the agricultural supply chains, develop intelligent manufacturing supply chains, strengthen supply chain integration in the wholesale sector, optimize retail supply chains, and reduce logistics costs.

Data

1. In an effort to further reform medical insurance payment models, 77 percent of nationally unified management regions have achieved instant medical bill settlement between medical insurance and medical institutions, with a total allocation of RMB 300.1 billion in medical insurance funds, greatly reducing the pressure on medical institutions, according to the National Healthcare Security Administration.

2. Since China's major oil and natural gas pipelines were connected to the grid in 2020, the natural gas transmission volume has exceeded 1 trillion cubic meters, and the daily maximum transmission volume has exceeded 1.1 billion cubic meters, according to the 29th World Gas Conference (WGC2025) opened in Beijing on May 20.

3. The scale of refinancing for technological innovation and transformation has increased from RMB 500 billion to RMB 800 billion, while the refinancing interest rate has been lowered from 1.75 percent to 1.5 percent, according to the central bank.

4. The latest data showed that in the first four months of this year, the added value of the five major sectors involved in the machinery industry maintained a year-on-year growth trend. From January to April, China's exports of mechanical and electrical products increased by 9.5 percent year-on-year, demonstrating strong resilience.

5. The market scale of China's industrial Internet industry has exceeded RMB 1.5 trillion, driving economic growth of nearly RMB 3.5 trillion, and the industrial Internet has expanded to 49 major categories of the national economy, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

6. The latest report from the General Administration of Sport of China showed that in 2024, the total annual consumption of participants in marathon events certified by the Chinese Athletics Association reached RMB 16.8 billion.

7. China will further consolidate the role of state-level economic and technological development zones in attracting foreign investment amid its continuous opening-up efforts. By the end of 2024, the number of such zones reached 232 across the country, generating a combined GDP of RMB 16.9 trillion (USD about 2.35 trillion), according to the Ministry of Commerce.

8. With continuous upgrading of China's greying industry, aging friendly products continue to emerge. From January to April this year, there were 28,700 new products catering to the aging population, a year-on-year increase of 255.2 percent, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation.

9. From January to April, major light industrial enterprises achieved a revenue of RMB 7.35 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 4.9 percent, achieving a profit of RMB 419.06 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.8 percent, according to the China National Light Industry Council.

10. According to the China renewable energy development report 2024, the installed capacity of renewable energy in China reached a historical high in 2024, accounting for more than 60 percent of the world's newly installed capacity of renewable energy. It is expected that the installed capacity of wind and photovoltaic power generation will increase by another 280 million kilowatts throughout the year of 2025.

(Source: Economic Daily)