With the purpose to help local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) restructure and innovate their technological work-frame, the Executive Council of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has adopted an administrative regulation that will amend the interest rate subsidy for business financing credit, the Macao Daily Times reported on Thursday.

The current interest subsidy grant, which has existed for over 10 years, can no longer meet the needs of the businesses, since the economic structure has changed, the daily quoted the Council's spokesperson Tong Chi Kin as saying.

With the exception of companies operating under public concession or sub-concession in the economic and financial area, the new interest subsidy will be extended to cover all areas of economic activities, according to the daily.

The minimum loan amount will be 300,000 patacas (US$37,975) compared with the previous 500,000 patacas (US$63,291), while the maximum amount will increase to 600 million patacas (US$76 million), from the previous 400 million patacas (US$51 million), according to the daily.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2009)