China to strengthen power, goods supply during Spring Festival holiday

China will step up efforts to ensure the supply of power and goods on the market during the 2022 Spring Festival holiday, according to a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.

The meeting also decided to extend certain tax and fee cut policies in a bid to help enterprises grow and tide over difficulties.

It urged efforts to make better use of the inter-department coordination mechanism concerning the supply of coal, electricity, oil, gas and transportation services, prioritize coal transportation, and boost new energy power generation through multiple channels.

Business enterprises, e-commerce platforms and retailers will be encouraged to operate during the Spring Festival, and contingency plans should be made to ensure the smooth flow of major transportation networks and the supply of daily necessities, the meeting said.

To help enterprises tide over difficulties and promote entrepreneurship and innovation, the meeting decided to extend another 11 preferential tax and fee policies to the end of 2023, covering sectors including science and technology, medical care and education.

According to the meeting, value-added tax for incubation services in qualified incubators, university science and technology parks as well as makerspaces will be exempted, and certification requirements for science and technology start-ups will be further relaxed.