Recently, with the consent of the provincial government, seven departments, including the Sichuan Provincial Branch of the People's Bank of China (PBC), the Sichuan Provincial Department of Economy and Information, the Office of the Financial Commission of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee, the Sichuan Regulatory Administration of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Finance, and the Sichuan Provincial Administration for Market Regulation, jointly issued the Several Policy Measures for Increasing the Proportion of Manufacturing Loans to Support the Construction of New Industrialization in Sichuan (hereinafter referred to as the Measures), aiming to boost the manufacturing loan balance by over 500 billion yuan in the next three years.

The Measures target key areas and vulnerable aspects of financial services in supporting manufacturing, proposing 20 specific initiatives across six domains: addressing financing needs for enhancing industrialization quality and manufacturing; boosting government fiscal support for manufacturing financing; intensifying assessment and incentives for credit extension to the manufacturing sector; optimally and fully using monetary policy tools; vigorously fostering innovation in financing products and models; and strengthening financing matchmaking services in the manufacturing sector. These strategies aim to holistically elevate the quality and efficacy of financial services supporting manufacturing development.

Specifically, the Measures include allocations from the provincial-level fiscal fund totaling three billion yuan annually from 2024 to 2027 to support projects that meet certain criteria in areas such as enterprise equipment upgrades, digital and intelligent transformation, green and low-carbon initiatives, workplace safety, and micro-technological improvements, aiming to drive large-scale equipment renewal in the industrial sector. The Measures outline a provincial financial incentive scheme for key industrial and technological transformation projects that have been completed and operationalized by industrial enterprises above a designated size and have increased their output value by over 20 million yuan. The provincial-level fiscal fund will grant funding incentives equal to 5 percent of the verified equipment investment (including software) per project, capped at 10 million yuan each. According to the Measures, banks achieving over 28 percent year-on-year growth in their medium and long-term manufacturing loan balances will qualify for incentives, receiving a bonus of 0.2 percent on the incremental loan balance. As per the Measures, private investment projects featured in the Provincial List of 500 Key Industrial and Technological Transformation Projects that are ahead of their scheduled investment progress are eligible for a one-time fiscal interest subsidy on new loans, with a subsidized annual interest rate of 1.5 percent from the provincial-level fiscal fund, applicable for up to six months, and a subsidy cap of three million yuan per project. Per the Measures, financing guarantee services with an annualized fee rate below 1 percent qualify for premium subsidies, in line with pertinent regulations. The Measures also introduce the "Chain Security Loan" policy product, which allocates a special quota within the PBC's "relending funds for targeted credit supply to smaller businesses", specifically supporting manufacturing small and micro-sized enterprises, with the financial department providing a one-time subsidy of 1 percent on the new loan amounts issued under this policy product.