BEIJING — China will take stronger measures to cut fees and taxes to support market entities this year with a combination of fiscal incentives, the Ministry of Finance said on Jan 25.

The measures will be more precise and sustainable to meet the needs of market entities, said Xu Hongcai, vice-minister of finance.

Incentives will be given to support the high-quality development of the manufacturing sector, such as tax deductions for research and development expenses of enterprises to aid technological advancement, Xu said.

The country will also extend the tax and fee cuts due at the end of 2021 for small, micro and individual businesses to further ease their operating pressure.

The central government will step up transfer payments to local governments to ensure sufficient funds for local tax and fee cuts, Xu said.

On the basis of 7.6 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion) of tax and fee cuts over the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), China cut another 1 trillion yuan in taxes and fees in 2021, which helped mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on market entities.