Sporadic outbreaks of the coronavirus, rising labor and material costs, and numerous other factors continue to exert pressure on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to Yao Jinbo, a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature. At the fifth session of the 13th NPC, he submitted a proposal calling for efforts to provide greater support for SMEs.

Yao, also CEO of China's classified online marketplace 58.com, noted that SMEs, as a main force in China's economy, play an important role in stabilizing employment, ensuring people's wellbeing, and stimulating development.

However, some SMEs still contend with problems such as difficulties obtaining financing, high operating expenses, and challenges in transforming into enterprises with advanced technologies and strong market competitive edges.

To ease these difficulties, Yao suggested that the relevant central authorities should optimize and upgrade the existing integrated financing credit service platform network for SMEs, and at the same time, with the help of emerging technologies such as blockchain, big data and artificial intelligence, continue to deepen the integrated development of supply chain finance and inclusive finance.

In addition, he called for more targeted policies such as tax and fee cuts, deferring tax payments, offering loans to SMEs at favorable interest rates, and reducing or providing subsidies on rents for small businesses.

"Efforts should also be made to continue to strengthen the supervision of monopolies and unfair competition, and create a better market environment for SMEs," he said.

In recent years, many NPC deputies have voiced their support for SMEs in proposals to the top legislature and the topic has been listed on the agenda of the government. 

According to the government work report delivered by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on March 5, tax and fee reductions introduced last year totaled more than 1 trillion yuan, and policies allowing micro and small businesses to defer principal and interest repayments on loans and take out more collateral-free loans were continued. 

This year, the government vows to beef up support for SMEs in an attempt to lighten their burden. "We will encourage the financial sector to provide more effective support to the real economy and make good use of instruments to support inclusive loans to micro and small businesses," Li said when delivering the government work report, noting plans to help lower business costs.

"For traditional SMEs, they should also actively carry out digital upgrading and search for new opportunities in mid-to-high-end consumption, the sharing economy and other emerging fields," Yao added.

As a corporate representative serving as NPC deputy, Yao said that he will lead his company to apply digital technologies to empower the transformation and upgrading, support the real economy, and help promote employment in the country.