“The catering, retail and other life service industries are closely related to the lives of ordinary people, and are also industries that have an important impact on promoting consumption, expanding domestic demand, stabilizing growth and building an international consumption center city. However, since the outbreak of this round of epidemics, these industries have been affected by The impact is getting bigger and bigger.” On March 29, Zhang Guohua, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, made the above statement at a press conference on Shanghai’s epidemic prevention and control work.
On March 29, Shanghai issued the “Several Policies and Measures for Shanghai to Fight the Epidemic and Help Enterprises Promote Development” (hereinafter referred to as “Measures”). In the retail field, it is proposed to provide full subsidy support for the cost of regular nucleic acid testing for employees in key positions in retail and catering in accordance with the requirements of epidemic prevention; subsidy support for the expenditure on epidemic prevention and sterilization of retail and catering enterprises.
Carrefour told reporters that, as a large-scale retail enterprise and a key material security enterprise for epidemic prevention and control in Shanghai, Carrefour is operating in large quantities every day during the front-line operation of epidemic prevention and supply. Nucleic acid testing of personnel, epidemic prevention and sterilization in stores, and cold chain testing have indeed caused a certain cost burden to enterprises. “The measures introduced by Shanghai can be described as helping enterprises to solve their immediate needs. In response to this policy, the company has now docked relevant policy support accordingly, and will then make a unified declaration according to the requirements of the Municipal Commission of Commerce.”
not only subsidize nucleic acid testing and epidemic prevention and sterilization expenses, but the “Measures” also propose that the use of existing special support funds for difficult enterprises in the retail industry that are greatly affected by the epidemic should be determined by the relevant competent authorities After the list of enterprises has been reviewed and approved, discounts will be given to their new loans in 2022, which will be supported by financial funds at the city and district levels. Continue to implement the new-type infrastructure construction discount policy, and provide loan discount support for eligible projects.
In terms of implementing relief and support measures for the retail industry, the “Measures” proposes to encourage enterprises to be included in the list of support for emergency supply guarantee, key cultivation, and construction of a convenient living circle. Financial institutions will increase credit support and reduce loan interest rates, and provide appropriate loan discounts. Promote the sharing of information between financial institutions and the competent departments of the retail industry, and use data such as transaction flow of small, medium and micro enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households, leases of business premises, and relevant credit information to encourage the issuance of more credit loans.
“This time, policies such as subsidies and loan discounts for retail enterprises’ epidemic prevention expenditures have a certain role in guaranteeing the cost side of enterprises.” Convenience Bee said The reporter said that in the face of the epidemic, although operating costs in all aspects are increasing, including staff being blocked and unable to attend, manpower and other factors have led to a decline in the operational capacity of some warehouses, and closed building stores cannot operate normally.Convenience Bee does its best to meet the needs of citizens for three meals a day, anti-epidemic materials, and home delivery.
The support measures for the retail industry also include supporting the normal operation of wholesale markets, supermarket stores, e-commerce platforms, urban living supplies distribution and other enterprises to ensure the normal operation of Create green channels for international and intra-city logistics and transportation, and increase the organization of main and non-staple food sources.
The subsidy is only one aspect. The “taxes” and “rents” of small and medium-sized enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households are the two major operating costs, which are also mentioned in the “Measures” .
Pang Wei, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Taxation Bureau, introduced that after preliminary analysis and statistics by the taxation department, many market players can enjoy preferential policies for multiple tax categories at the same time. More than 1 million enterprises can enjoy the tax support policies in the document “Several Policies and Measures”.
In terms of tax reduction and fee reduction, the taxable income of small and low-profit enterprises with an annual taxable income of more than 1 million yuan but not more than 3 million yuan will be halved. The policy of deferring the payment of some taxes and fees for small, medium and micro enterprises in the manufacturing industry implemented in the fourth quarter of 2021 will be extended for another 6 months, and the policy of adding value-added tax to the service industry will be extended.
In terms of rent reduction and exemption, including small and micro enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households that rent state-owned houses for production and operation activities, the rent for 3 months will be exempted in 2022, and they will be listed as rent in 2022. If the administrative areas of the towns and towns where the high-risk areas of the epidemic are located, or the implementation of the epidemic prevention requirements seriously affects the business activities, the rent will be exempted for another 3 months, and the rent will be exempted for a total of 6 months throughout the year.
Chen Dong, Chief Economist of the Shanghai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said that recently the state has issued a rescue and support policy for the service industry, and proposed to provide small and micro enterprises in the service industry and For individual industrial and commercial households, part of the rent in 2022 will be exempted to promote enterprises to stabilize their expectations and tide over the difficulties. On the basis of implementing national policies, Shanghai has appropriately relaxed the scope of rent-free, covering small and micro enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households in all industries.
In addition, the “Measures” also encourage large-scale commercial buildings, shopping malls, parks and other market operators to appropriately reduce or exempt rents for tenants operating in entities on the basis of negotiation , the government’s various support policies give priority to supporting market players who take the initiative to reduce or exempt rents. For enterprises whose houses and land are urgently requisitioned by the government or take the initiative to reduce or exempt real estate rents for tenants, if it is really difficult to pay real estate tax and urban land use tax, the corresponding real estate tax and urban land use tax can be reduced or exempted. If the performance of state-owned enterprises or institutions is affected by rent reduction or exemption,approved according to the actual situation.
Kantar Worldpanel Greater China General Manager Yu Jian told reporters that the government’s supportive policies in nucleic acid subsidies, opening up green channels, etc. Retail companies have expanded some of their transportation capacity to promote their rapid recovery in the post-pandemic economy, and continue to play a leading role in the recovery of the economy in the industry. The relief measures in terms of special support funds and loans are more aimed at helping small and micro enterprises in crisis.
Ding Zuohong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Moonstar Group, told reporters that this round of epidemic has a great impact on retail, catering and other physical businesses, especially many small and medium-sized brand merchants. How quickly economic production can recover after the epidemic is very important. Several measures in Shanghai this time clearly listed a series of supports to support the retail industry, including support in finance, logistics, information and other aspects, and also listed the docking departments.