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Shanghai Plans $22bn Tax Relief for Firms Amid Covid Fight

Internet platforms will be encouraged to further lower service fees and telecom operators urged to provide three months’ worth of free cloud services


Shanghai covid outbreak
A security officer keeps watch at the entrance to a residential area, after the coronavirus outbreak in Shanghai. Photo: Reuters.

 

Officials in Shanghai said on Tuesday they would roll out policies to help the local economy cope with a surge in Covid-19 cases in the city, including offering refunds that will reduce firms’ tax burdens by 140 billion yuan ($22 billion) in 2022.

Internet platforms will be encouraged to further lower service fees and telecom operators to provide three months’ worth of free cloud services, for instance, the city government said in a statement on its website.

Subsidy support will be given to companies in the retail and catering industries to send their staff for regular Covid tests, and will also be provided to front-line healthcare personnel and volunteers involved in the city’s fight against the pandemic.

The government will encourage financial institutions to increase credit support and reduce loan interest rates for firms involved in food supply, while support will also be provided to the tourism, transport and exhibition industries, it said.

Shanghai is in its second day of a two-stage Covid-19 lockdown and is carrying out mass testing as it battles its largest ever outbreak.

 

  • Reuters with additional editing  by Sean OMeara

 

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Sean O'Meara

Sean O'Meara is an Editor at Asia Financial. He has been a newspaper man for more than 30 years, working at local, regional and national titles in the UK as a writer, sub-editor, page designer and print editor. A football, cricket and rugby fan, he has a particular interest in sports finance.