Dongguan rolls out rewards for enterprises

Measures covering sales, production, consumption to boost biz recovery
Industrial enterprises above a designated size in Dongguan, Guangdong province, will be rewarded suitably if they increase sales or production in the first quarter of 2024.

Industrial enterprises above a designated size refer to those with each of their annual sales income surpassing 20 million yuan ($2.8 million).

This is part of the local government's new measures to stabilize production, boost consumption and ensure employment stability before and after the Spring Festival holiday.

According to the steps announced on Wednesday, each industrial enterprise will get up to 500,000 yuan, based on year-on-year sales increases in the first three months of 2024.

For stabilizing production and boosting output, the local government will encourage enterprises to maintain continuous production, and support them in formulating production plans for the first quarter and adjusting production capacity based on actual circumstances.

Industrial enterprises above a designated size that meet the conditions for maintaining continuous production in February, with electricity consumption no less than 50 percent of that in January, will receive electricity subsidies, with a maximum subsidy of 600,000 yuan for each, according to the new measures.

On employment stability, the local government will provide transportation subsidies to migrant workers for returning to their positions after the Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 10, with subsidies ranging from 200 to 300 yuan per person.

The city government will also organize special vehicles and chartered trains to assist employees, including those newly recruited from other provinces and cities, to quickly return to work.

Enterprises in Dongguan that employ nonlocal residents for the first time, sign labor contracts and provide them with social insurance continuously for more than three months will receive a one-time subsidy of 1,000 yuan per person for new employment, according to the measures.

The measures on stabilizing production, boosting consumption and ensuring employment stability are part of the important moves to facilitate a steady and positive economic start for Dongguan, the local government said.

Dongguan, a manufacturing and trade hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, is also a major destination for labor resources due to some foreign-invested processing and trade enterprises in the city.

Investment from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region remains the largest source of overseas capital in Dongguan, according to the local commerce authority.

Currently, there are 8,075 Hong Kong-funded enterprises in Dongguan, accounting for 58.3 percent of the total number of overseas enterprises in the city, data from the local commerce authority showed.

To promote economic and trade cooperation between Dongguan and Hong Kong SAR, a business summit and exchange conference in the GBA was held on Thursday, with participation from government officials and business leaders on both sides and representatives from Hong Kong-invested enterprises.

Economic and trade cooperation between Dongguan and Hong Kong has maintained steady growth over the years.

From January to October 2023, Dongguan attracted 644 new Hong Kong investment enterprises, an increase of 171 compared to the same period in 2022.

During the same period, trade value between Dongguan and Hong Kong exceeded 136.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 3.9 percent, or 12.9 percent of the city's total import and export value.