Many regions are increasing financial support to help the manufacturing sector improve quality and upgrade.

Recently, the Henan Regulatory Bureau of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, together with the Office of the Financial Affairs Commission of the CPC Henan Provincial Committee and the Henan Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, released the Guiding Opinions on Financial Support for Building Henan into a Strong Manufacturing Province (hereinafter referred to as the Guiding Opinions). The plan sets out 7 categories and 24 support measures, aiming to build a manufacturing-focused financial services system that is stable and efficient, precisely matched, risk-controllable, and commercially sustainable. The Guiding Opinions are the first nationwide to comprehensively establish a primary lending bank mechanism for above-scale manufacturing enterprises, achieving full coverage with no blind spots. In addition, to address the “difficulty in getting a first loan” pain point for small and micro manufacturing enterprises, it implements a “first-loan breakthrough” special action.

Since this year began, the People’s Bank of China has continued to improve the system of structural monetary policy tools, optimizing the top-level support framework for manufacturing-related credit. Across the country, many regions have rolled out supporting special documents, and by leveraging regional industrial characteristics, they have introduced targeted measures to continuously address financing pain points for the manufacturing sector.

Specifically, the General Office of the Jinan Municipal People’s Government issued the Jinan City Financial and Financial Linkage Measures to Support High-Quality Development of Manufacturing (2026 Edition). The document states that for project investment by manufacturing enterprises in the current year, guarantee loans will be provided at no more than 80% of the total project investment, with a maximum of 300 million yuan per borrower. It encourages manufacturing enterprises to build new and upgrade R&D platforms, pilot testing platforms, industrial design centers, and manufacturing innovation centers. For fixed-asset loans used for building innovation platforms, a subsidy equal to 50% of the interest actually paid will be provided, with a per-borrower subsidy cap of 1 million yuan. For manufacturing enterprises carrying out business in brain-computer interface, embodied intelligence, and 6G fields, the subsidy ratio is increased to 70%.

Shaanxi Province issued the Notice on Implementing a Package of Loan Interest-Subsidy Policies. It proposes, to precisely leverage financial resources to cluster in the manufacturing sector, that for enterprises whose business registration industry categories fall under “C Manufacturing” in the national economic industry classification, loans they take out for equipment procurement, technological transformation, technology R&D, and other purposes will be eligible for an interest subsidy support of 1.2 percentage points.

Dong Qingma, Deputy Dean of the China Finance Research Institute of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, said in an interview with Securities Daily that the dense introduction of manufacturing-finance support policies in many places is a concrete move for local governments to implement the national plan for financial services to the real economy and to coordinate with structural monetary policy. This sends a strong signal of stabilizing growth. Against the backdrop of persistent external uncertainties and the manufacturing sector facing pressure to transform and upgrade, localities are moving away from the past “one-size-fits-all, large-scale spending” approach to industrial support. They are now starting to focus on local industrial characteristics to implement precise measures—shifting from single credit-based support to coordinated linkages among fiscal, financial, and industrial efforts—reflecting a substantive upgrade in local governments’ industrial governance capabilities and policy granularity.

Mingming, Chief Economist at CITIC Securities, told reporters of Securities Daily that the support measures in many places show three main features: first, deeper fiscal-financial coordination—using fiscal interest subsidies and risk compensation to create leverage effects, replacing traditional direct award-and-subsidy approaches; second, diversified tool combinations—covering coordinated efforts such as credit enhancement via guarantees, loan interest subsidies, the primary-lender bank mechanism, and special first-loan programs; third, precise tiered policymaking—balancing full coverage for above-scale enterprises with “first-loan breakthroughs” for small and micro enterprises, with greater emphasis tilted toward advanced manufacturing and the science and technology innovation track.

In Dong Qingma’s view, future policy implementation across regions needs to improve cross-department data-sharing mechanisms, and by using financial technology to draw precise financing profiles for enterprises. At the same time, it should also put in place and launch in parallel various policies for benefiting businesses, such as interest subsidies and guarantees. This would enable businesses to apply using a single channel and allow funds to reach them directly, comprehensively compressing institutional transaction costs digitally. In addition, it is necessary to provide differentiated support for advanced manufacturing and future industries, improve an integrated financing system covering investment, lending, guaranteeing, and leasing, and strengthen long-term support.

Mingming suggested that in the future, it may further improve risk-sharing mechanisms, broaden direct financing channels such as sci-tech innovation bonds and tailored insurance, and support the manufacturing sector in upgrading and improving quality.

[Author: Liu Meng] (Editor: Wen Jing)

Keywords:

                                                            manufacturing industry