Coronavirus: China Takes Support Measures To Boost Domestic Growth

Employee wearing a protective mask due to the coronavirus on a production line of the equipment supplier Yanfeng, in Shanghai on February 24, 2020. REUTERS / Aly Song

Text by: RFI Follow

China announced on Tuesday March 31st measures to support its economy. Or one billion yuan, more than 128 billion euros, to help SMEs, including an exemption from taxes on the purchase of clean vehicles.

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With our correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde

Beijing had so far avoided using so-called "bazooka" measures, notably budgetary. But the engine of the second world economy is struggling to restart and we have to get our hands on the wallet. Faced in turn with the pandemic, Europe and the United States no longer order, or order less, from the Chinese factories which have nevertheless resumed work.

The automobile sector, a very assisted sector

To prevent the assembly lines from running empty, these measures are primarily intended to boost domestic consumption , but also to support the more than 25 million small and medium-sized enterprises, collateral victims of viral pneumonia. They hire nearly 40% of Chinese employees. Today they are threatened by unemployment.

Among the sectors most affected by the measures intended to stem the coronavirus: the automobile. Confined for more than two months, the Chinese did not drive during the epidemic. The world's largest automotive market is seized up. Sales in the sector collapsed by more than 78% year-on-year in February. Buyers of clean vehicles will not pay tax for two years.

Read also: Coronavirus: China could experience growth close to zero in 2020

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  • China
  • Economy
  • Automobile
  • Coronavirus

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