Financial backing starts to flow into region, helping local businesses recover from COVID-19 pandemic

Investment from January to May in East China's Shandong province has re-entered positive territory, up 0.2 percent year-on-year despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Shandong Development and Reform Commission.

The achievement is attributed to the province's efforts in improving its business environment with measures including efficient project management and supportive policies for businesses, local officials said.

"We have seen changes in all fields of the business environment in Shandong in our 14 years of development here," said Lu Shudong, chairman of the Shandong subsidiary of property developer Shimao Group.

In recent years, Shandong has attached more importance to constructions of its business environment, Lu said.

The province's improved policies and services for businesses have made the entrepreneurs feel more at ease in running businesses in Shandong, Lu added.

Great Orange, a Shanghai-based media company, settled its internet creative cultural project in Zibo of Shandong last year.

Chen Song, chairman of the company, said that Shandong has made significant changes in the business environment after its effort in promoting innovation in the last two years.

"The progress of Shandong's high-quality development is rare opportunity for every entrepreneur and investor," Chen said.

So far, Shandong has attracted a total of 25,000 major projects, with a total investment of 18.6 trillion yuan ($2.63 trillion), according to the commission.

Focusing on ensuring investment stability, the province has set up a working group to guide investment and enhance regulation and management of fixed asset investment.

It has also called for expanding productive investment via the assessment of key performance indicators, monitoring and analyzing investment trends monthly, and cooperating with the statistics department to supervise project progress.

In April, Shandong planned to launch 495 new projects worth 659.5 billion yuan, targeting investment in grassroots medical institutions, education and small town infrastructure.

In May, a total of 796 major projects in 16 cities in Shandong were put into construction under strict prevention and control measures for the epidemic, the commission said.

Official statistics show that in April and May, investment in major projects at the provincial level surpassed 100 billion yuan, accounting for 23 percent of the total projects planned this year.

To create a sound business environment, Shandong has rolled out policies ranging from broadening market access for foreign investors and facilitating cross-border trade, to supporting its local small and medium-sized enterprises with financing.

In May, the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Shandong Province issued a guideline on further improving its business environment.

According to the guideline, the province will implement a series of supporting measures for optimizing the emergency lending service, making a list for industrial enterprises with financing needs and facilitating docking projects between enterprises and banks.

Early this year, the Shandong local financial watchdog issued a guideline on establishing the system for organizing financial institutions to provide companies with financing service and guidance.

Cooperating with related departments and local banks, the move is a part of the province's effort to help companies improve their financial management and business operation, and to promote the province's financial service for its real economy, local officials said.

The authorities have assigned the first batch of 5,760 advisers, more than 2,200 specialists and 1,806 financial teams to provide 26,530 companies with financial guidance.

These staff members will guide each company according to their reasonable financing needs through targeted measures and provide them with tailored services including financing plans and information about financial policies, they said.

liangkaiyan@chinadaily.com.cn