Covid-19 restrictions to ease in Shanghai as authorities seek to revive economy

Officials in Shanghai are continuing to ease Covid restrictions following a harsh lockdown that confined residents to their homes for 2 months. According to a Reuters report, the authorities in the global financial hub have removed restrictions that prevented many businesses from operating, with measures being brought in to revive the decimated economy.

Last month, in the midst of the lockdown, the city reported a huge economical decline, with Covid-19 outbreaks and clusters prompting strict restrictions and swift lockdowns that decimated the manufacturing, retail, and property sectors. Officials in Shanghai are now introducing measures aimed at preventing the spread of the disease while allowing people to return to the workplace.

Speaking to the media, Shanghai’s Vice Mayor Wu Qing says “unreasonable restrictions” are being cancelled and officials are ditching a so-called “white list” of companies that were allowed to continue operating during the lockdown. In addition, the government is reducing the rate of tax on car purchases, in a bid to boost the automotive sector, as well as increasing the quota of licence plates for passenger vehicles by 40,000 in 2022. The city issued 135,000 such plates during 2021.

The latest measures will be added to those introduced at the end of March, with the aim of reducing the financial burden for market players by more than 300 billion yuan for 2022, according to Hua Yuan, from Shanghai’s municipal government.

“In short, we will do our best to help all kinds of enterprises and work together to restore and revitalise Shanghai’s economy. Although the pandemic had a great impact on Shanghai’s economy and society, the long-term positive trend of Shanghai’s economy has not changed.”

SOURCE: Reuters