The measures recently issued by the Shenzhen Municipal Government to help businesses affected by COVID-19 will play a positive role in boosting the real economy, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported, citing Professor Wang Pengfei, dean of Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS).
Wang told the Daily that Shenzhen is expected to recover its normal high-growth economy stimulated by the measures’ multiplier effect.
“Shenzhen has implemented a series of very strict COVID control measures, which has played a decisive role in ensuring the safety of citizens’ lives,” Wang said. “We cannot deny that this wave of COVID impacted the economy greatly. Coupled with the international environment’s uncertainty, downward pressure on the economy has increased. So, it is highly necessary for the government to take measures.”
Wang believes that the measures, which have inclusive ones for all industries and special ones for specific industries, will benefit local enterprises in terms of supply and demand, capital and labor, economy and people’s livelihood.
“Many enterprises have made great sacrifices in virus control. The municipal government, as a service-oriented one, showed its sense of responsibility in sharing the cost of epidemic prevention with enterprises in difficult times. These measures convey the municipal government’s strong confidence in economic development,” the professor said.
He said that the measures can effectively assure the survival of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as provide a potential driving force for future long-term economic growth.
“It is particularly noteworthy that there are two specific measures related to financial support for the real economy,” Wang said, adding that guiding financial institutions to increase loan lending can effectively solve the external financing difficulties of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
The measures also involve special measures for specific industries. The pandemic seriously affected the hospitality, wholesale and retail, and catering industries. It is predicted that the new measures can effectively stabilize the affected industries’ supply chains, according to Wang.
Wang noted that precise support for important industries such as industrial manufacturing, catering and retail, transportation and logistics can positively boost the supply side, stimulate the demand side and improve people’s livelihood.