China to give more support to private businesses, small firms

China will unveil more supportive measures for the country's private businesses as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to a State Council executive meeting on Monday.

Increasing support for the development of private businesses and SMEs helps strengthen the endogenous impetus for economic development, boost entrepreneurship and innovation, and expand employment, according to a statement released after the meeting, which was chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.

The country will work to build a fair and convenient business environment. It will ensure enterprises of different ownerships and scales enjoy fair treatment in terms of tender process and land usage, according to the statement.

The country vowed to remove the minimum registered capital and shareholding structure requirements as well as other restrictions on private investment's entry to sectors such as resource exploitation, transportation and public facilities, unless otherwise stipulated, it said

The country will also step up reduction of taxes and fees and improve financing services. The country will improve its policies for targeted reserve requirement ratio cut to encourage inclusive financing and expand the application of its re-lending policies for small firms to equitable small- and medium-sized banks as well as Internet banks, it said.

It said the country would protect private entrepreneurs' personal and property safety in accordance with law, establish compensation mechanisms to cover enterprise losses caused by the adjustment of statutory planning.

The country will further push forward with reforms to streamline regulation and delegate powers, improve regulation and optimize services to improve its business environment.

After certain pilot schemes, the country plans to scrap enterprises' account-opening permits before the end of next year. It will also make the intellectual property review procedures more efficient and shorten the average time for trademark registration review to five months in 2019, according to the statement.