1. Boosting economic growth by helping enterprises to overcome difficultiesTo mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic and social development and support industries and enterprises to overcome difficulties and resume growth, Shanghai has promptly issued Some Policy Measures for Fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic, Helping Enterprises and Boosting Growth. In all, 21 policy measures are rolled out to help enterprises. These measures include tax rebate and reduction, fee reduction and profit concession, rent reduction, financial subsidies, and employment stabilization support for enterprises. Rough estimates show that the tax-related policies alone can reduce the burden of relevant industries and enterprises in Shanghai by around RMB140 billion in 2022.Greater financial support is provided. Shanghai has unveiled Financial Support Measures for Fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic, Helping Enterprises and Boosting Growth, which include lowering the financing guarantee rate for various enterprises, offering discount on new loans to enterprises in difficulty, and intensifying first loan and credit loan support for micro and small enterprises.The current round of a surge in COVID-19 cases has put a considerable economic strain on Shanghai. However, the newly introduced measures are designed to help market players to stay viable and win the future.2. Keeping the financial “pulse” up and runningIn 2021, transactions in Shanghai’s financial market topped RMB2,500 trillion. Such a huge trading volume also implies that Shanghai must keep its financial uninterrupted and flowing. Banks, securities brokers, fund management companies and other financial institutions all have launched their plans for implementation, and countless "financial professionals" have chosen to fight the odds and safeguard a non-stopping financial market and continuous fund flows through their resident on-site services.The purpose of resident on-site service is to meet the compliance requirements. At the same time, resident on-site service is also the only way to quickly muster sufficient transaction resources to respond to emergencies.Resident on-site service, multi-center support, post backups…. All these measures taken by various financial institutions show that marching beds, sleeping bags and tents have now almost become the standard personal items for front-line financial workers in Shanghai to fight the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.The Shanghai Stock Exchange has urgently issued "30 anti-epidemic measures" to ensure the normal examination and approval of applications for listing on the SMART market. For those companies that have completed their IPOs, "on cloud trading" service and extended information disclosure are provided…. All these measures provide comprehensive support for epidemic prevention and control and effectively safeguard market operations.Thanks to the concerted efforts, all financial businesses at the Shanghai International Finance Center now operate normally, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange and other markets are also open as normal.The normal operations in the current extraordinary environment mean that Shanghai’s financial connectivity with the rest of the world remains intact.

3. Ensuring "uninterrupted" customs clearance through emergency on-duty serviceIn a statement, SIPG said that current operations at the Port of Shanghai are stable and orderly, with better berthing efficiency than in 2021. Since March 28, 2022, the average waiting time of container ships at the port has been less than 24 hours, and the number of container ships waiting for berthing has been less than 10. Except in cases of extremely bad weather, all production units at the Port of Shanghai now maintain normal operations 24 hours a day.Multiple media outlets have reported that the container throughput at the Port of Shanghai remains at approximately 140,000 TEUs, which represents a high operating level for the port.The Port of Shanghai has also launched a “land-to-waterway-transport” service for containers. Under this mode, customers can directly send their containers to the Port of Taicang or the Port of Suzhou for consolidation before they are transported by boat to Yangshan Port or the port area in Waigaoqiao. This avoids land transport to Shanghai, thus effectively ensuring the timely port delivery and shipment of cargo containers.Shanghai Customs recently introduced several measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, safeguard livelihood, help enterprises and boost growth. A human resources emergency support mechanism has also been launched, so that all business offices can normally handle the customs declaration and inspection of import and export goods, thus ensuring safe and smooth trade flows in Shanghai. In the meantime, whole-process online handling has been promoted for all customs businesses to maximally facilitate enterprises. Efforts are being made to support the stabilization and supplementation of industrial and supply chains and safeguard the normal import of means of production.The continuous port cargo flow in and out of Shanghai attests to the strenuous efforts made by the world's largest trade port city to safeguard smooth supply and industrial chains.



Author: Li Jinlei and Song Yusheng, www.chinanews.com