A number of ministry-level departments, including those responsible for human resources and social security, agriculture and rural affairs, and culture and tourism, have responded recently to issues of public concern.
Businesses benefit from 42.3b yuan in refunds
A total of 42.3 billion yuan ($5.98 billion) in unemployment insurance premium refunds has been distributed to 3.2 million enterprises across China with 85.13 million employees, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said on May 6.
Three times as many companies have received refunds this year than last year, with a growing number of small and mediumsized enterprises among them, the ministry said.
The novel coronavirus pneumonia pandemic has seen local authorities adopt multipronged measures to ensure the refund can be paid to companies facing difficulties and help them resume work and production, it said.
The measures included taking the initiative to contact enterprises and notify them about the policy, reducing the number of documents required for applications, and conducting online approvals.
100 counties experiment with online produce sales
China will explore new models of e-commerce through social networking and livestreaming to promote online sales of agricultural produce, a guideline published on May 7 said.
The guideline, jointly issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and three other departments, called on 100 counties to experiment with the "internet plus selling" of agricultural produce from villages to cities. The experiment is aimed at exploring and establishing a batch of promotion modes and standard specifications that can be repeated and applied nationwide, it said.
Those responsible for the online sales of agricultural produce in counties taking part in the experiment should strengthen cooperation with online sales platforms, open online stores on large e-commerce platforms, open up marketing channels and promote cooperation with fresh food e-commerce companies.
Targeted, low-cost e-commerce training should be provided in a simple way to farming households whose produce had distinct advantages and characteristics but had not been included in the supply chain, it said.
Ministry to select new national tourist resorts
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has begun selecting a new batch of national tourist resorts in a move to provide the public with high-quality tourism products.
The candidate tourist resorts should have sound public information services and nationwide popularity, according to a recent notice issued by the ministry. It said candidates should have recorded no serious violations of laws and regulations or serious travel-related accidents in the past three years.
Tourist spots should be recognized as provincial-level resorts for more than a year before applying for national-level status, it said.
Statistics from the ministry show that China now has 30 national resorts and 453 provincial resorts.
Preferential VAT policy extended to end of year
The preferential value-added tax policy for small-scale taxpayers has been extended to Dec 31, the State Taxation Administration and the Ministry of Finance said in an announcement published on May 7.
The VAT policy was originally put into effect from March 1 to May 31, according to an earlier announcement from the two ministries.
The measures are slightly different for taxpayers in Hubei province, the Chinese region hit hardest by the novel coronavirus pneumonia pandemic.
Small-scale taxpayers in Hubei will be exempted from paying VAT on sales subject to a 3 percent VAT levy, and they will not have to prepay VAT on items subject to a pre-levy VAT rate of 3 percent.
In other regions, small-scale taxpayers will see the 3 percent rate for both reduced to 1 percent.
