CHINA/SMEs/REBALANCING: TRYING TO OVERCOME ANTI-SME BIASES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 002952 SIPDIS SENSITIVE TREASURY FOR OIA CWINSHIP AND TTYANG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EIND EFIN CH SUBJECT: CHINA/SMEs/REBALANCING: TRYING TO OVERCOME ANTI-SME BIASES Refs: A. Priscilla Hoffman-Stowe/Laura Stone email, October 9, 2009; ¶B. FBIS/OSC #CPP20090924308001; C. 08 Shanghai 550 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: China's largest, often State-owned companies have benefited handsomely in recent years from overt government favoritism aimed at quickly stimulating the economy, and in the longer term at building strong national champions. Smaller firms have also had to contend with a poorly developed financial sector, barriers to entry in many sectors, an inadequately-trained workforce, and ineffectual legal protections. The result has been stunted growth of smaller, innovative and service-oriented companies. To combat this trend, recent high profile policy statements indicate the leadership seeks to re-focus attention on advancing a more robust private sector. However, the structural bias toward powerful State-owned enterprise (SOEs) will be hard to reverse. Despite new policies aimed at re-orienting growth, China's small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) continue to struggle. (Note: This cable provides information in response to Ref A. End note.) END SUMMARY. -------------- SMEs a Growth Engine, But Face Obstacles -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Chinese data on SMEs are notoriously problematic since many small service providers are unregistered, but according to official statistics China has at least 10 million SMEs that make up 60 percent of China's GDP, and account for 99 percent of total enterprises and 80 percent of urban employment. These smaller firms and businesses, according to Dragonomics Economist Arthur Kroeber, have created almost all Chinese job growth in the last decade and have contributed disproportionately to GDP growth. A Deloitte report called SMEs "powerful transformational agents" and "innovation centers," key to China's rise as a global competitive force. Nevertheless, SMEs have been heavily impacted by the financial crisis, highlighting their role as employers and exporters. Jie Yao, Professor at the School of Economy and Management in Northeast Dianli University, told Econoff that export-based SMEs face considerable obstacles and were adversely impacted by the economic crisis: "Many Chinese export-oriented SMEs closed down because of their weak vitality and weak competitive strength." According to the Ministry of Finance, 40 percent of China's SMEs stopped production and/or apply for bankruptcy as a result of the economic crisis. ¶3. (SBU) Despite SMEs' major contributions to economic growth and employment, they are virtually barred from participating officially in some of China's fastest-growing sectors, which are often monopolies dominated by the state sector. In telecoms and Internet Services, for example, SMEs have limited access, although they could in theory obtain licenses as service providers. In the past, the coal industry was open to SMEs, but the Chinese government is now enforcing large-scale consolidation and closing small mines in order to reduce the number of mining fatalities. Infrastructure projects go to large, typically state-owned firms, but SMEs can often get part of the pie as subcontractors. Even where there are no formal barriers, however, SMEs usually lack the political ties needed to overcome opaque regulatory regimes, corruption and weak rule of law, poor IPR protection, and a government procurement system that rewards the companies that have political connections and resources to lobby for contracts. -------------- Lack of Credit -------------- ¶4. (SBU) SMEs also lack basic access to credit (See Refs B and C). In a press conference earlier this year, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Li Yizhong identified availability of capital as the single most important culprit for SMEs' difficulties. Zhang Qizuo of China International Economic Research Group pointed to lack of capital as a major problem: "The financing problems of SMEs have not yet been properly resolved." Under recent government initiatives, loans to SMEs reached 54 percent of total outstanding corporate loans at the end of June 2009, and grew at a faster rate than overall corporate loans. While this is an improvement over previously woeful credit access, it still represents tight credit conditions and allows little slack for start up businesses. ¶5. (SBU) SMEs' difficulties accessing capital stem from the lack of a credit information system and the ability to charge interest rates appropriate for the level of risk, in combination with the central government's continued reliance on lending quotas rather than more normal monetary tools to control excess liquidity in the economy. A Jiangxi Chamber of Commerce official recently told Econoff that SMEs rely heavily on China's large financial institutions, but banks BEIJING 00002952 002 OF 003 under-serve local SMEs because the banks lack sufficient familiarity and credit information on SME firms. As a result, according to the official, under-ground financing is prevalent and plays a key role fulfilling the un-met demand for loans. Underground financing includes county governments and local businesses making informal financing arrangements to fill the gap, as well as informal business and illegal operations. He explained that information about credit worthiness is often limited by region. For example, when a company wants to expand or borrow money from financial institutions based elsewhere, it encounters difficulty, particularly outside of large cities. ¶6. (SBU) Rural Credit Cooperative (RCC) branches have had some success where lending by large state-owned banks have fallen short. According to the official, RCC's extensive rural branch networks gave them knowledge about SME credit worthiness that other financial institutions lack. However, there are indications that even credit from the RCCs is drying up. Caijing magazine recently reported that the RCCs have unduly favored local infrastructure and real estate projects at the expense of lending to smaller borrowers. China has growing private equity and venture capital industries, but private equity firms focus on large firms ready to make initial public offerings, and the lack of credit information prevents funding from these channels from reaching many Chinese SMEs. -------------- The Dearth of Talent -------------- ¶7. (SBU) In addition to the short-term access to credit challenges facing SMEs, the longer-term challenge of attracting, developing, and retaining talent serves to shackle private sector growth. SMEs have historically lost talent to well-known multinational brands, famous SOEs, and stable government packages because, according to Jim Quigley and Chris Lu of Deloitte, SMEs are "weakly branded, patriarchal, and family dominated." Beyond losing the battle to tap into the available talent market, SMEs further lose in their ability to develop and add value to existing employees. -------------- But the Government Has A Plan! -------------- ¶8. (SBU) As China moves to promote more sustainable balanced growth, it has given new attention to growing the economy's service sector and promoting SME growth. In late September 2009, the China State Council issued "Certain Opinions of the State Council on Further Efforts to Promote the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises" (see Ref B). This document outlines a range of pro-SME programs, including the development of a special credit fund, improving science and technology innovation policies, preferential tax policies, lowering market access thresholds in traditional service monopolies as well as other areas dominated by large-scale enterprises, giving SMEs preferences in government procurement, encouraging SME lending, allowing a new NASDAQ-type market, and reducing business registration and transaction fees. ¶9. (SBU) Some programs to stimulate SMEs are already in place, and the State Council Opinion merely summarized ongoing efforts. For example, measures were announced in August 2009 to help SME exporters through export tax refunds and export credit insurance; the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises has set up a venture investment fund; and a corporate bond to raise funds for a group of SMEs Liaoning Province was issued in May 2009. Moreover, commercial banks such as the Bank of China, China Commercial Bank, and Minsheng Bank set up separate SME business departments to support SMEs, and an SME board was recently established on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Also, funds available for lending from MIIT's development fund for small and medium-sized enterprises increased from RMB 3.9 billion (571 million USD) in 2008 to RMB 9.6 billion (1.4 billion USD) in 2009. MIIT also is working to increase technical, management, and business training for SMEs. Before the State Council Opinion was issued, according to a RCC official in Jiangxi Province, the provincial government directed that one third of new lending go to SMEs. In the past, RCCs waited for SME borrowers to come to them, but now RCCs aggressively target SME customers. -------------- Comment: An Uphill Struggle -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Beijing has had a stated goal of spurring SME development for at least eight years, thus far to little effect. Because of the scale and structural nature of the biases against SMEs, getting funding to flow towards smaller firms without implicit government guarantees will be difficult without wholesale reform of the Chinese BEIJING 00002952 003 OF 003 economy. The State Council's SME Opinion appears to reflect the government is taking the health of SMEs seriously; it also calls for providing real financial and technical support to ongoing initiatives. However, the document does not include details, which are expected to be fleshed out in subsequent policies and regulations. Even in the face of a newfound policy to promote SME growth and development, challenges remain colossal and include weak financial infrastructure in the provinces, lack of transparency and variability in local rule of law, as well as local government corruption and favoritism. Until China achieves real financial reform in the form of risk-based interest rates for business loans and control over petty corruption, plans to support SMEs will have trouble gaining purchase. The largest short-term barrier remains a lack of access to capital from the formal financial sector, which forces SMEs to maintain high savings and hinders business re-investment. In the long-term, talent recruitment, development and retention will be crucial. Overcoming these challenges will likely limit the reach of China's rebalancing efforts in the foreseeable future. HUNTSMAN