Many provinces have introduced rent reduction and exemption policies to help enterprises resume work
Our reporter Du Yumeng
In order to minimize the impact of the epidemic on enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, policies including “combination punches” have been issued by the central government, local governments, and some central enterprises to inject vitality into the resumption of production and production. Among them, the most talked about by small and medium-sized enterprises is the reduction of rent.
As the first large state-owned enterprise to propose support policies, Poly Development Commercial Co., Ltd. as soon as January 26 quickly carried out the deployment action for the rent reduction and relief of tenants; in addition, including China Resources Land, China Jinmao, OCT, Longhu Group, etc. Companies have announced different levels of rent reduction and exemption measures.
From a local point of view, a reporter from Securities Daily found that as of now, 32 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) in the country have also clearly reduced rents for SMEs.
For example, Shanghai issued the "Several Policies and Measures for Shanghai's Full Support for the Prevention and Control of Epidemic Situation Support Service Enterprises for Steady and Healthy Development", which proposes that for industries and small and medium-sized enterprises that are greatly affected by the epidemic and have difficulty in production and operation, rent reductions, tax deferrals, and tax incentives will We will focus on reducing the burden on enterprises. The data shows that as of March 8, Shanghai state-owned enterprises had accepted applications for reductions of 14,000 small and medium-sized enterprises, involving a leased area of 9.8 million square meters and applying for rent reductions of about 1.2 billion yuan.
As another example, the Notice on Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission issued the "Notice on Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission-funded Enterprises Reducing and Exempting the Rent of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises". Non-state-owned small and medium-sized enterprises whose business activities are greatly affected by the epidemic can enjoy the exemption of two months' rent from February to March. It is reported that between February and March of this year, Inner Mongolia State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission invested 169,700 square meters of leased housing area for 260 small and medium-sized enterprises, with a total reduction of RMB 5.96 million in rent.
In an interview with the Securities Daily, Wu Qi, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, said that rent is undoubtedly an important cost for most small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, directly reducing the rent of small and medium-sized enterprises can directly reduce the cost of enterprises, especially for the current progress of resumption of production and production. For unsatisfactory SMEs, this is a very effective way to help companies "stop losses" and overcome difficulties.
Of course, not only rent reductions and exemptions, we can see from the recent economic epidemic measures introduced in various places, including tax cuts, credit support, financial subsidies, housing provident fund delays and many other measures.
"Compared with large enterprises, SMEs have weaker financial strength and ability to resist risks, and the impact of the epidemic will be more serious." Wu Qi believes that although the current epidemic prevention and control tends to stabilize, various regions are also actively deploying and resuming work Resumption of production, but for small and medium-sized enterprises, the problems of purchasing raw materials, paying wages, and stock debts still need to be resolved, and the need for bailout and emergency financing is even more urgent. On the whole, among the policies and measures promulgated in various places to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, it is more effective to implement tax reduction and fee reduction policies such as exemption from pensions and unemployment insurance unit contributions.
Wu Qi explained that in the case of a sharp contraction in demand and a sharp decline in operating income, tax and fee reduction policies can directly reduce the operating costs of enterprises, alleviate the risk of tight cash flow and capital rupture. At the same time, online financial services and other policies are also indispensable, that is, using big data, artificial intelligence and other means, using video connections, remote authentication and other means to carry out off-site verification, underwriting, and verification, develop big data risk control, and simplify The loan approval process improves the availability and timeliness of credit, and alleviates the negative impact on the survival and operation of SMEs in the short term.