Recently, the People's Bank of China and other eight departments jointly issued the Notice on Strengthening Financial Support Measures to Help the Development and Growth of the Private Economy (hereinafter referred to as the "25 Articles of Financial Support for the Private Economy"), which has attracted widespread attention in the market.
For a long time, the financial sector has been obviously biased against the private economy, resulting in the overall weakness of the financial system's support for the private economy, which is extremely mismatched with its contribution to economic and social development. This bias is mainly reflected in the fact that the financial sector often invests too much financial resources in the state-owned economy out of belief in state-owned enterprises, resulting in the private economy receiving less financial resources overallDue to the small size of market entities in the field of private economy, they cannot meet the huge demand for credit delivery of financial institutions, resulting in the deep sentiment and prominent phenomenon of financial institutions, which exacerbates the difficulty of obtaining financial support for the private economyCompared with state-owned enterprises, which can usually drive more political and policy resources, most private enterprises do not have a high social status, and it is difficult to help financial institutions leverage local resources, which reduces the enthusiasm of financial institutions to serve the private economyCompared with state-owned enterprises, the life cycle of private enterprises is generally shorter, the credit risk is higher, and the policy support is weaker, resulting in financial institutions needing to bear relatively high credit risk when serving private operationsThere are obvious differentiations between private enterprises, and there are also significant differences in the qualifications of private enterprises between regions and industries, resulting in financial institutions being hesitant to set foot in the private economy on a large scale when serving the private economyFinancial institutions themselves have established an accountability mechanism, and the review and approval requirements are relatively strict, and market personnel are reluctant to focus on expanding financial support for private enterprises due to factors such as exemption from liability and reducing their own risks.
Affected by this, the financial resources obtained by private enterprises are not only obviously insufficient in terms of total amount, short term and heavy cost, but also structural problems such as regions and industries are also more prominent. In view of this, the "25 Articles on Financial Support for the Private Economy" proposes to "guide financial institutions to establish the concept of 'equal treatment', continue to strengthen the financial services of private enterprises, and strive to achieve financial support for the private economy and the contribution of the private economy to economic and social development", and strive to change the traditional business philosophy of financial institutions.
However, it must be noted that it will not be easy to achieve the above goals, and there is a lot of work to be done to break down prejudices, which requires the joint efforts of all parties. In my opinion, financial support for the private economy needs to start from the following aspects, in order to fundamentally improve the availability and sustainability of financial resources for the private economy:
First, the financial sector should focus on the spot. Private enterprises are a huge market group, with many industries, wide regions, and complex subjects, which makes the private enterprise group more complex and differentiated. To this end, it is difficult and unlikely for the financial sector to support private enterprises in a wide range and on a large scale, but it should be advanced and retreated, focusing on high-quality private enterprises, and "high-quality private enterprises" are mentioned in 5 of the "25 articles of financial support for the private economy".
In the future, policy resources and financial resources should be continuously tilted towards high-quality private enterprises, so as to drive the development of the entire private economy. What kind of enterprise is a high-quality private enterprise is a matter of professional judgment, and financial institutions need to have such capabilities. It can be said that once high-quality private enterprises are stabilized, the private economy will basically be stabilized. In particular, it is pointed out that, considering the importance of private real estate enterprises, in the current environment, it is equally important to increase financial support for high-quality private real estate enterprises, avoid further spillover of real estate industry risks, and weaken real estate industry risks, so as to enhance the market's confidence in the private economy.
Secondly, the financial sector's support for private enterprises should adhere to the basic idea of "three arrows +" synergy. The financial sector's support for the private economy is mainly reflected in the "three arrows" (credit, bonds and equity) at the financing level, that is, gradually increasing the proportion of loans to private enterprises, expanding the scale of bond financing for private enterprises, and expanding the scale of equity financing for high-quality private enterprises. In fact, this is generally consistent with the "three arrows" idea launched by the financial management department for real estate enterprises. However, from the real estate industry's "three arrows" effect, simply from the capital side can not effectively solve the problem, the financial sector to private enterprises, on the basis of the "three arrows" to promote the implementation of the synchronous, should also be through the establishment of credit incentives and constraints, risk sharing and compensation mechanisms, strengthen accounts receivable confirmation and tax incentives and other means, enhance the financial carrying capacity of the private economy.
Finally, the financial sector should establish a correct outlook on business and performance, and support for private enterprises should pay more attention to sustainability. In addition to availability, the financial sector should establish a correct outlook on business and performance, abandon the traditional idea of throwing money in the short term, and support private enterprises should pay more attention to sustainability and risk control, that is, financial institutions should still take compliance and prudent operation as the starting point when serving private enterprises, and cannot blindly invest in financial resources, make political capital, and earn policy resources. At the same time, increasing financial support for the private economy does not mean giving up the state-owned economy, nor does it mean a large amount of money and credit incremental resources, but should pay more attention to the systematic restructuring and optimization of existing financial resources, such as revitalizing the inefficient or ineffective financial resources that have been concentrated in the fields of real estate and urban investment for a long time in the past, so as to provide space for financial support for the private economy.
Promoting the financial sector to support the private economy is a medium and long-term process, which requires a real two-way rush between financial institutions and the private economy, as well as the joint efforts of policy departments, local governments and other relevant parties to create good conditions and environment.
The author is a distinguished researcher at the National Laboratory of Finance and Development).
Issued in 202312.11. The 1120th issue of China News Weekly magazine.
Magazine title: How to really support the private economy with financial support?
Author: Ren Tao.