China's SME development index picks up in January

China's small and medium-sized enterprises' development index picked up in January with the biggest increase in the past two years, People's Daily reported on Thursday.

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Index stood at 88.9 in January this year, up 1 point from the previous month, reversing the downward trend of continuous shock since the beginning of last year.

In the same period, industries involving people-to-people contacts such as transportation and postal storage, as well as accommodation and catering, increased by 1.7 and 1.8 points, respectively, compared with the previous month.

The operating rate of enterprises picked up steadily, and the business conditions of small and medium-sized enterprises improved substantially thanks to the optimized COVID-19 pandemic measures and a package of policies to stabilize growth, said Ma Bin, the executive vice-president of China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.

China's SMEs have regained confidence in business development and the macroeconomic sentiment index reached 98.7 in January, up 2.1 points from the previous month.

The market expectations of China's small and medium-sized enterprises have also been boosted. The market index was 80.7 in January, up 0.9 points month-on-month.

Business efficiency and willingness to invest have improved among China's small and medium-sized enterprises.

In January, the business efficiency index stood at 74.0, up 1.2 points from the previous month and the investment index reached 82.9, up 1.3 points from December.

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Index was calculated based on a survey of 3,000 SMEs and the vitality of a country's SMEs is an important indicator reflecting the country's economic development status.