(Yicai) March 29 --Shanghai aims to reduce the burdens of firms, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, by implementing a series of policies such as tax and fee cuts, this year to bolster economic growth.

The policies are valid till Dec. 31, the local government announced at a press conference today.

Shanghai will implement policies so that advanced manufacturers, as well as producers of integrated circuits and industrial machinery, can deduct a higher percentage of their research and development expenses from taxable income.

The city will continue to halve eight types of taxes such as property tax and stamp tax for small-scale taxpayers, firms with low profits, and individually-owned businesses. From next month, it will cut the testing fees on special devices and registration fees on China-made drugs and Class II medical devices such as glucose meters and blood pressure monitors.

Moreover, the policies target labor. Shanghai will reduce employers’ contribution rate in employees' medical insurance by 1 percentage point this month. It will refund 30 percent of unemployment insurance premiums to large companies and the corresponding share is 60 percent for SMEs. It will pay subsidies of CNY2,000 (USD277) per person to companies that hire unemployed young people or fresh graduates besides lowering the contribution rates for unemployment and occupational accident insurance.

The financial hub will reduce companies’ expenses on electricity, natural gas, and water. It will standardize the public services provided by industrial parks and crack down on illegal price gouging.

Shanghai will grant more loans to SMEs. It will strive to issue over CNY500 billion (USD69.2 billion) of bailout financing this year and raise the total balance of loans to exceed CNY1.3 trillion (180 billion) by December. It will encourage banks to offer loans at better rates to micro companies and SMEs and give subsidies to these firms to cover parts of the interest and fees of policy loans.

Finally, Shanghai will hold at least 2,000 recruitment events this year to offer no less than 300,000 jobs while improving recruitment platforms and hiring systems.

Editor: Emmi Laine