China's new financial measures to help small businesses: Experts

BEIJING - China's newly-unveiled financial measures to ease credit strain on small- and micro-sized businesses (SMBs) are necessary for their development, experts said.

The country will roll out a series of measures to make financing more accessible and affordable for SMBs to reduce costs in the economy, the State Council decided at an executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang Wednesday.

The government vowed to raise the relending and rediscount quotas for small companies and lower the relending interest rates for small businesses.

Dong Ximiao, senior researcher at Renmin University's Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, said the SMBs need tailored policy support to develop, and financial institutions should continue to enhance services for them.

It was the third time for the State Council to discuss lowering of financing costs for small and micro businesses during its weekly executive meeting since March.

In China, SMBs contributed to 80 percent of employment, some 70 percent of patent ownership, over 60 percent of GDP and more than 50 percent of tax revenue, China's central bank governor Yi Gang said last week.

The new support package also includes targeted cuts in banks' reserve requirement ratios and other monetary policy tools.

"The tools are designed to ensure that SMBs have enough accessible credit, given a tightening total supply," said Zeng Gang, a financial researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

China promised to maintain its prudent and neutral monetary policy and keep liquidity sufficient and appropriate.

The country's flexible monetary policies allow commercial banks to lower liquidity costs and encourage lenders to offer SMBs financial services, Dong said.