Greater Financial Support Given to Stabilise Foreign Trade and Investment

In order to give full scope to the positive role of financial institutions in stabilising foreign trade and investment and in stimulating consumption, the Ministry of Commerce has furthered its collaboration with eight financial institutions, including the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China, through the signing of various co-operation agreements and memoranda of understanding. The Ministry of Commerce recently issued a circular (Shang Ban Cai Han No. 170 [2020]) to the commerce departments requiring them to speed up their implementation of a slew of specific measures, which include:

• Investigations and studies to understand the needs of and problems faced by businesses in terms of accessing financial services. The findings will be promptly relayed to financial institutions to promote the optimisation of their services.
• Commerce departments will be encouraged to study and introduce special measures, in collaboration with the local branches of financial institutions, to improve financial services standards and help enterprises gain financing more readily and at reduced cost.

Source: Ministry of Commerce