Epidemic failure of Chinese SMEs
From our correspondent in Beijing
It became the big hot topic on the Chinese Internet to the desktop as local leaders. The distress of Chinese SMEs in need of cash is in China proportions "hysterical", according to press reports in Hong Kong. To the point that the government has announced a package of measures to help them and calm the unrest.
The crisis of Chinese SMEs is symbolized by the incredible epidemic of bankruptcies in the city of Wenzhou, in the heart of the exporting province of Zhejiang. The Chinese press said Thursday that since the beginning of the year, more than 200 patrons had fled or hid after their coffers have dried up. Others have committed suicide. Some 20% of the 360,000 SMEs in the region have already had to close shop for lack of money.And the situation will get worse in January, when the Chinese New Year, traditionally the time when patrons enjoy a vacation to disappear without paying their employees. According to the New China News Agency, SMEs create around 80% of jobs in the country.
The State Council (Chinese government) has subsequently announced Tuesday a series of measures, financial and tax to help small and medium enterprises. The first is to facilitate access to credit. To do so, against the current of their policy, the authorities will allow the minimum reserve ratios "comparatively low" for local banks lending to SMEs, while this ratio was usually around 21% for large banks. Moreover, these small businesses can more easily borrow by issuing bonds. The other part is to exempt SMEs from a battery of taxes and charges.Banks are also prohibited from charging their services at prices "unreasonable."
"Informal Credit"
Wenzhou has become a symbol for it is the Chinese capital of the "informal credit". Private reserves by banks, which prefer to grant loans to large corporations, small businesses are strangled. They have no recourse but to turn to private security companies that have developed lending. The rates are incredibly high, ranging from 20% to over 100% … Some analysts believe that the share of informal loans may exceed 25% of total credit in the country. Credit Suisse has estimated that black market credit of 456 billion euros, with an increase of 50% per year.
Chief economist at the Development Research Centre of the State Council, Zhang Wenkui believes that the latest measures only bring temporary relief.And nothing will change until the banking sector do not be reformed, by offering different services to different types of customers. He has a vivid picture to describe the current situation: "It's like an irrigation system with water that would go to large trees and ignore all the shrubs." The problem is that in the short Beijing term can not open the floodgates too, failing to challenge its efforts to the credit crunch.
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