Relief at Hand

By Zhang Shasha

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease， orders for ambulances have seen a surge. Ningbo Careful Special Cars， a company in east China that makes fabricated products， including those used in ambulance production， saw its orders shoot up， putting a strain on its limited budget.

Then the local branch of Bank of Communications （BoComm）， one of the fi ve biggest banks in China， came to the rescue with a special low-cost loan. Within 48 hours， the bank had created an account for the fi rm and approved a loan. On February 13， the company withdrew 5 million yuan （$717，268） to buy raw materials.

“Currently， our production is in full swing. The highly effi cient fi nancial services helped us get a 10-million-yuan （$1.4 million） credit loan at a preferential interest rate in just two days， which solved our pressing need in time. With the money， our production can continue smoothly，” a manager of the company said.

To help small and medium-sized enterprises （SMEs） tide over difficulties amid the epidemic， the government has been rolling out policies and measures， directing that they be implemented in an orderly manner. This has been a shot in the arm for SMEs that fi nd it diffi cult to get funding even during normal times.

Carefuls timely loan is due to the 300-billion-yuan （$42.7 billion） special relending policy announced by the Peoples Bank of China （PBC） on January 31， enabling the central bank to boost lending through commercial banks.

Subsequently， in February， the central bank said lenders have been asked to tolerate higher levels of bad loans to support coronavirus-hit fi rms.

“ We will support qualified firms so that they can resume work and production as soon as possible， helping maintain stable op-erations of the economy and minimizing the outbreaks impact，” PBC Deputy Governor Fan Yifei said at a press conference on February 15.

The central bank is disbursing the 300-billion-yuan fund through nine major national banks like BoComm， and some local corporate banks in 10 key provinces and municipalities. These banks will use the money to give loans to companies on a list drafted by the central and local governments.

The list should be strictly followed so that low-cost funding can be delivered precisely to companies that supply goods and services to contain the novel coronavirus， Liu Guoqiang， another Deputy Governor of the PBC， said.

Expanded package

While the first tranche of funds is yet to be exhausted， new measures are on the way to further assist companies during their resumption of production.

On February 26， the PBC announced it would add a 500-billion-yuan （$71.25 billion） relending and rediscounting quota for banks. It also cut the interest rate for relending designated for agricultural entities and SMEs by 0.25 percentage point， down to 2.5 percent.

“The move is conducive to increasing low-cost capital resource for small and medium-sized banks and will improve their lending capacities. This will give full play to the structural monetary policy tools，” Wen Bin， chief researcher with China Minsheng Bank， told China News Service.

Regional banks that issue new loans to small and micro companies at a relatively lower interest rate， which is no more than the loan prime rate plus 50 basis points by the end of June， can apply for getting an equivalent amount of relending funds， according to the PBC.

The destinations of the additional funds will be more diversified compared to the 300-billion-yuan tranche. They will focus on supporting agricultural， foreign trade and service industries， such as tourism， catering and transportation， helping the companies pay their debts， speed up capital turnover and increase investment.

In addition， SMEs and self-employed entrepreneurs that have encountered liquidity diffi culties but meet the eligibility conditions can extend their principal repayment to June 30 without being penalized. This will ease their cash fl ow trouble and lower the cost of fi nancing， Wen said.

“Currently and for a certain period in the future， the emphasis of fi nancial policies should be supporting SMEs and lowering their fi nancing cost，” he added.

According to data from the China Banking Association， as of February 28， the credit support for financial institutions had surpassed 1，033.9 billion yuan （$148.5 bil- lion）， contributing to epidemic prevention and control， and promoting the real economy as well.

Gao Ruidong， chief macro analyst with Guotai Junan Securities， an investment bank and securities company， told Economic Information Daily that the string of targeted fi nancial policies is like “timely rain for SMEs and self-employed entrepreneurs.” These are market-oriented and can fully mobilize various market entities. Also， they will make financial institutions more positive to loan applications. As the costs of capital， labor， electricity and other inputs are lowered and taxes are reduced， SMEs can accelerate their work resumption.

New approaches

Apart from credit support， regulators also unveiled several more measures recently to strengthen direct fi nancing and solve capital turnover problems during the resumption of production amid the outbreak. They are meant to innovate and improve the way of fi nancial support to enhance the capital markets capacity to serve the real economy.

On February 7， the China Securities Regulatory Commissions Beijing bureau issued a document promoting initial public offerings （IPOs） by companies planning to list. It also advanced the acceptance procedure by the National Equities Exchange and Quotations， the over-the-counter system for trading the shares of a company that is not listed on the Shanghai or Shenzhen stock exchanges. Besides， it committed to enhancing online training for enterprises public listing.

Ren Zeping， chief economist with the Evergrande Group， suggests making use of the stock markets financing functions to bolster the real economy. Bond issuance， mergers and acquisitions， and IPOs should be ways to back the real economy， Ren said.

Financial enterprises such as futures practitioners and brokers are also chipping in to provide fi nancing support for companies involved in the fight against the outbreak. They are underwriting epidemic prevention and control bonds and waiving trading fees.

According to the Securities Association of China， by February 21， a total of 21 securities companies had underwritten 18 epidemic prevention and control bonds， which helped 17 issuers from 10 provinces raise 16.84 billion yuan （$2.42 billion）.