Targeted Relief

New financial policies have been introduced to help SMEs overcome difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

- Ge Lijun

Less than five days. That’s how long it took Molarray to receive the first part of the loan after it filed the loan application.

Molarray is an R&D company specializing in life sciences and genetic diagnosis based in the Suzhou Industrial Park, in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province. Amid the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Molarray’s products are used on the frontline to help detect and identify the virus. However, while the employees worked overtime to increase production, the company lacked working capital. The situation changed on February 5, when a loan of 5 million yuan ($718,000) from the Suzhou branch of China Everbright Bank came to its aid.

The Suzhou Industrial Park brings together nearly 1,000 financial institutions. In order to respond to the new difficulties faced by businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the Suzhou Municipal Government immediately put in place concrete measures.

In fact, across the country, the People’s Bank of China (PBC), the nation’s central bank, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) and some other regulatory departments have started introducing various financial policies. The objective is to encourage financial institutions everywhere and of all sizes to help SMEs overcome the difficulties caused by the pandemic.

Suzhou leads the way

On February 2, the city of Suzhou took the initiative by promulgating 10 policies aimed at supporting SMEs within its jurisdiction, with a particular focus on financial support.