Initiatives to support small, micro firms

China unveiled a set of new measures to support the growth of small and micro-sized enterprises amid an economic slowdown.

China's Cabinet said yesterday that it will support them with growth funds and exempt import taxes for advanced machinery bought from abroad.

Small and micro-sized companies are usually startup firms with less than 20 people. It used to be a complicated affair to set up companies in China but with the new filing-based registration mechanism, the approval procedures have now been simplified leading to a jump in the registration of small businesses.

China will also encourage commercial banks to cut red tape and the vetting period while allowing them to extend loans to qualified firms.

More incubation parks and centers will be built and communications bolstered for such companies.

The firms will also be exempted from paying the correlated tax even if they don't hire disabled people, but stand to win additional government subsidies if they do.

Public service platforms will be set up, while free training, information-sharing, consultation and certification will be offered. Small and micro-sized companies will also be encouraged to participate in government sourcing program.

China will also lower the threshold for small and innovative firms to be listed on the stock market, scrapping the requirement that only companies that record continuous years of profits can be eligible for listing.

China's economy expanded 7.3 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter, the weakest in more than five years.