A freighter anchors at the Zhejiang Free Trade Zone. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

The central branch of the People's Bank of China Hangzhou, Zhejiang provincial departments of commerce and finance, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange Zhejiang branch recently announced 12 financial measures to help local foreign trade companies maintain and expand market share and achieve sound and stable development.

The announcement stipulated that financial institutions across the province should roll out specific credit programs for foreign trade companies. Priority should be given to leading companies with an annual export value of $200 million or lower, or micro, small and medium-sized companies that need financing.

The growth rate of loans issued to foreign trade companies should be higher than that of their imports and exports. The planned total loan to such companies is 1.5 trillion yuan ($216.75 billion).

The central branch of the People's Bank of China Hangzhou has also prepared 50 billion yuan to help local private, micro and small-sized foreign trade companies obtain refinancing and rediscount.

Meanwhile, micro and small-sized foreign trade companies can benefit from a credit loan support program. The central branch of the People's Bank of China Hangzhou will cover 40 percent of the loan when a foreign trade company applies for one from local financial institutions between March 1 and Dec 31, 2020.

A policy regarding delayed repayment of capital and interest is also applicable to credit loans that are due between June 1 and Dec 31 this year. All such loans should be deferred if possible.

Zhejiang is expected to enlarge its insurance financing to 10 billion yuan, establish a "green channel" for foreign trade companies to issue bonds, and encourage them to bring in offshore funds that have relatively low financing costs.

The province is also actively promoting the use of RMB in settlement of cross-border trade transactions, which it expects to exceed 1 trillion yuan in 2020, with 120 billion yuan generated by cross-border e-commerce and 100 billion yuan from the Zhejiang Free Trade Zone.