China's Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Development Index edged up 0.2 points to 89.2 in November, building upon the moderate increase recorded in the previous month, indicating continuation of a positive trend of development, according to China Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises on Tuesday.
The main driving force behind the continued rise in the index is the continued implementation of a series of existing support policies and a package of incremental policies that have begun to show results since September, according to the association.
The continuous accumulation of various positive factors has led to an improvement in the SME business climate, especially in enterprise operation benefits, according to a leading official with the association.
"In November, the comprehensive business index and benefit index of SMEs both rose by 0.5 points, which has been the largest increase so far this year. At the same time, the cost index, which had been at a high level for a long time, experienced a significant and rare decline. This shows that the improvement in the prosperity of SMEs is based on a virtuous cycle, and this wave of two consecutive increases is of high value," said Ma Bin, executive vice president of China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.
The information transmission software industry index and the overall industrial index rose most significantly, up 0.6 point and 0.5 point respectively, with the construction, transportation, wholesale, retail and accommodation sectors all seeing their indexes rebounding well in November, according to the association.
The latest official data released by the association also showed that among the eight major categories of industries of the national economy, seven saw their sales volume index and benefit index go up and six saw their liquidity index go up in November, indicating that the development of small and medium-sized enterprises is expected to improve overall.
"The index rose for two consecutive months so far in the fourth quarter, indicating that the favorable conditions for steady economic growth have been further consolidated. As the policy effects continue to be unleashed, we can expect the positive trend of development of small and medium-sized enterprises to be more lasting and more stable," Ma said.
China's SME development index shows consecutive growth in November
