New policies in Shanghai to help boost market mood

SHANGHAI: The Shanghai municipal government has given a solid boost to market confidence by announcing 22 favourable policies, which will help maintain the strong momentum in economic recovery, local officials say.

The 22 policies will boost market demand, stabilise growth, inject more vitality into market entities and further improve the business environment, said Wu Qing, Shanghai’s executive vice-mayor, at a news conference.

Industries hard hit by the resurgent Covid-19 cases, including cultural, tourism, sports, exhibition, advertising and civil aviation, will likely benefit the most, observers said.

Organisers holding economic and technology fairs in Shanghai this year will be granted a maximum one million yuan (RM642,224) subsidy each, said Wu.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai government will provide 100,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan (RM64,675 to RM194,025) each as incentives to small and medium enterprises that are recognised by the Industry and Information Technology Ministry as niche-sector leaders with high market share and strong innovation capacity.

To nurture technology innovation, the city will reward key high-tech companies with a maximum 500,000 yuan (RM323,376) each.

The government’s fiscal subsidy for technology upgrades of major projects in key areas has been raised to 100 million yuan (RM65mil) – an extension of the previous raise to 50 million yuan (RM32mil) in May, according to Zhang Hongtao, chief engineer of the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatisation.

Companies are encouraged to enter emerging sectors like metaverse, green transformation and smart devices, in order to help Shanghai realise high-quality economic growth, said Zhang.

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