BEIJING - The Chinese government on Tuesday announced a special guarantee program with a total scale of 500 billion yuan ($71.42 billion) to support investment by micro, small and medium-sized private enterprises.

The program, implemented through the National Financing Guarantee Fund over a two-year period, will cover not only medium- and long-term loans, but financing needs related to daily operations, such as factory expansion, shop renovations and working capital, according to a notice jointly released by several departments including the Ministry of Finance.

A plan to establish national-level M&A fund

On the same day, Deputy Head of the National Development and Reform Commission Wang Changlin said on a press conference that China is researching the establishment of a national-level mergers and acquisitions fund as part of efforts to optimize the layout of government investment funds and strengthen the guidance over their investment direction in a bid to accelerate the development of "new quality productive forces".

A plan to expand domestic demand for 2026-2030

China will formulate and release an implementation plan this year for its strategy to expand domestic demand for the 2026-2030 period, Wang said.