Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 13th : "Increased pressure to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment will introduce" hard measures "
Xinhua News Agency reporters Fan Xi, Zhu Chao, Zhang Quan
With the rapid spread of the epidemic globally, the downward pressure on the world economy has increased significantly, and the uncertainty of China's external development environment is rising. At present, how to further stabilize the basic foreign investment in foreign trade and ease the operating pressure of foreign trade enterprises?
On the 13th, at the press conference of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council, relevant officials of the Ministry of Commerce answered this.
The pressure is great and the policy effect is gradually showing
Since the beginning of this year, China's foreign trade production enterprises have resumed work later than in previous years, coupled with poor logistics and transportation, the international exchange of personnel has been blocked, which has led to a decline in order compliance and a certain impact on import and export. Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show that from January to February, China's total foreign trade import and export volume was 4.12 trillion yuan, a decrease of 9.6%.
With the gradual control of the epidemic in China and the implementation of a series of foreign trade stabilization measures by the Chinese government, the effects of foreign trade stabilization have gradually emerged. According to the monitoring of the Ministry of Commerce, the resumption of work and production of foreign trade enterprises in various places is accelerating, and their ability to fulfill contracts is also rapidly recovering. Among them, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai and other major foreign trade provinces, cities and key foreign trade companies have all resumed work.
However, due to the impact of the epidemic, foreign trade enterprises faced more serious problems such as delayed payment collection and loan maturity, and increased financial pressure. How to solve such problems?
"We believe that financing is more prominent and urgent than financing expensive issues. We need to pay more attention to the overall solution. In alleviating the financial pressure of foreign trade enterprises, we have introduced three policy measures." Said Li Xinggan, director of the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce.
The first is to expand credit allocation so that enterprises can get more. Promote the implementation of the re-loaning and re-discounting policies that have been introduced, and support various enterprises, including foreign trade enterprises, to resume work and production quickly with preferential interest rates. Promote the Export-Import Bank to further increase credit in the field of foreign trade; promote the development of new products and models by China CITIC Insurance Corporation, and optimize the insurance policy's fixed loss and compensation mechanism.
The second is to postpone the repayment of principals and interests, so that enterprises can spend less. We will implement the policy of deferred principal and interest payment for small and medium-sized enterprises, and provide temporary deferred principal and interest payment arrangements for small and medium-sized micro-foreign trade enterprises that have been severely affected by the epidemic and encountered temporary difficulties in liquidity. The principal and interest of loans can be extended to June 30. The Export-Import Bank of China will also exempt Hubei Province and some small and micro enterprises in the industries affected by the epidemic from the full-month loan interest in February, totaling about 600 million yuan.
The third is to open up green channels to make funds available faster. Promote financial institutions to follow the principles of special affairs and urgent matters, and for the financing needs of enterprises affected by the epidemic, they can start the rapid review channel as soon as possible, simplify business processes, and help trapped foreign trade enterprises get funds as soon as possible.
"Three positive changes", a closer look at the structure has bright spots
According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, from January to February this year, China's actual use of foreign capital was RMB 134.4 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 8.6% (equivalent to US $ 19.42 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 10.4%).
"The main reason for absorbing foreign investment from rising to falling is due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, which is superimposed on the Spring Festival holiday, resulting in poor flow of people and logistics, large-scale business shutdowns and production suspensions, limited investment activities, and investors waiting to wait and see. Analysis of Zong Changqing, director of the Ministry of Foreign Investment.
Although the total amount has dropped, there are many “bright spots” in the structure. Zong Changqing stated that from a structural perspective, China's absorption of foreign investment from January to February had three positive performances:
First, the high-tech industry keeps growing. From January to February, foreign investment in high-tech industries actually used 41.52 billion yuan, an increase of 2.2% year-on-year. Among them, the actual use of foreign investment in pharmaceutical manufacturing, medical instrument equipment and instrument manufacturing, information services, and e-commerce services increased by 6.7%, 139.7%, 30.5%, and 449.8% year-on-year respectively.
Second, outstanding performance of key open platforms. Foreign investment in the Shanghai and Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zones increased by 13% and 12.8%, while Hainan, Fujian, and Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zones increased foreign investment by 230.2%, 149.5%, and 140%.
Third, investment from some economies in China has grown steadily. Investment in China by the countries along the “Belt and Road” and ASEAN increased by 9.7% and 15.1%, respectively.
In recent years, China has continuously expanded its opening up and continued to optimize the business environment. In 2019, China's full-caliber foreign investment in the fields of banking, securities, and insurance reached US $ 141.2 billion, an increase of 2.1% over the previous year, and its share of global foreign direct investment (FDI) increased from 6.7% in 2015 to 10.1% in 2019. .
"Overall, the basic development trend of China's long-term economic improvement will not change, the strong magnetic attraction of China's super-large market size will not change, and China's comprehensive competitive advantages in terms of industrial support, human resources, and infrastructure will not change. Foreign countries Investors' long-term investment and operation expectations and confidence in China will not change. "Zong Changqing said.
What are the "hard measures" to stabilize the basic foreign trade market?
Stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment is a long-term task. What "hard measures" will China launch next?
All export products that have not been fully refunded except the "two highs and one capital" are refunded in full and on time, leading financial institutions to increase foreign trade credit, supporting commercial insurance companies to develop short-term export credit insurance business and reducing rates ... March 10 The executive meeting of the State Council was held to study and introduce measures to stabilize foreign trade policies.
Li Xinggan said that these policies and measures hold firmly to the basic foreign trade market, mainly including three aspects: first, make good use of export tax rebate policies; second, expand export credit; third, make good use of export credit insurance. Striving to solve the outstanding problems and demands of foreign trade enterprises, especially small and medium-sized micro-foreign trade enterprises in the current situation, such as rising costs and tight capital chains, is conducive to stabilizing enterprises, confidence and expectations.
Accelerate the reduction of the negative list of foreign investment access in the country and the Pilot Free Trade Zone, and continue to expand foreign market access; speed up the revision of the Catalog of Encouraged Foreign Investment Industries, increase the number of encouraged items, and increase the breadth and depth of opening up; make full use of 218 national economic development District and 18 Pilot Free Trade Zones have played a leading role in stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment ... Zong Changqing said that around the stabilization of foreign investment, the Ministry of Commerce will focus on expanding opening up, implementing policies, opening platforms, and investment promotion. We will work hard to optimize the environment in five areas.
At present, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce have initiated the revision of two negative lists of foreign investment access in the country and in the Pilot Free Trade Zone, together with relevant departments. "This revision insists that the two negative lists are only reduced or not increased. In the process of actively opening up and stabilizing foreign investment, we insist on combining with the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure." Zong Changqing said.