Maoming in South China's Guangdong province had 9,433 new registered market entities in the first quarter of this year, maintaining a steady growth.

The growth rate of market entities in Maoming has also caught up with the same period from last year since the official resumption of production and work on Feb 3 amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pneumonia.

Multiple measures taken by the city's market regulation bureau contributed to the results.

All the services of the bureau have been required to be handled online since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic. For those services that need to be done at service windows, enterprises need to make reservations in advance.

Enterprises can make 24-hour online applications through the municipal government affairs service network and the provincial service platforms like the WeChat mini program Yueshengshi (meaning Guangdong Provincial Affairs) and Yueshangtong (literally Guangdong Business Link). Relevant certificates, licenses, and approval documents will be sent to applicants via China Post's EMS after the completion of services.

Green channels have been opened by the bureau for the filing of enterprises involved in the production of medical devices like medical masks, protective garments, and goggles that are urgently needed for the COVID-19 prevention and control efforts in Maoming. For enterprises that already have production sites, equipment, raw materials, and technical personnel, their filing applications can be handled on the same day.

The bureau also advanced the cooperation between the city's Private-Owned Business Association and the Maoming branch of China Construction Bank. The two jointly launched five financial products, which had a preferential annual interest rate of 3.85 percent, to support the work resumption of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, as well as privately owned businesses in Maoming.

By April 3, the Maoming branch of China Construction Bank had granted loans totaling 1.4 billion yuan ($197.43 million) to micro and small enterprises in Maoming.

In addition, the bureau is boosting the construction of the smart self-service declaration platform for business registration, which can quickly respond to the registration applications of market entities.