Fiscal measures taken to offset COVID impact

Writer: Han Ximin  |  Editor: Holly Wang  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2020-08-07

Shenzhen's fiscal department has taken active policies to ensure general public budget revenue and offset the impact of COVID-19, a report by Shenzhen Special Zone Daily said Thursday.

In the first half of the year, the general public budget revenue was 203.1 billion yuan (US$29.2 billion), down by 4.7 percent year on year. But compared with the first quarter, the decline was narrowed by 8.1 percentage points and the trend of revenue is improving.

Due to the impact of COVID-19, the city has relieved the burden of enterprises by cutting 18.5 billion yuan in taxes and 34 billion yuan in fees in the first six months.

The fiscal bureau, along with taxation, social security and health care departments, implemented 16 measures to cut and exempt 9 billion yuan in taxes, including 4.89 billion yuan refunded to enterprises to stabilize employment, 1.4 billion yuan in two-month rental exemption, 520 million yuan in subsidies to property management companies, 110 million yuan in subsidies for sewage treatment to 220,000 enterprises, 570 million yuan in electricity fee subsidies for businesses and 350 million yuan in exempted fees for the construction of ports and cultural facilities.

On the premise of not over-burdening businesses, the fiscal department ensured each non-taxation income could be collected.

The city increased 15 billion yuan in revenue through invigorating its assets and properties, and cutting unnecessary spending, project funding and budgetary funds.

In H1, the investments in fixed assets increased by 7.8 percent. Metro and 5G projects have helped stabilize the city’s economic growth. The city issued 30.3 billion yuan bonds in three batches to raise funds for investments in sewage and garbage treatment, health care and key projects for the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.