The central government has promised to cut fees and provide tax relief to help industries affected by Sars. Premier Wen Jiaobao said that the impact on the national economy is 'increasingly transparent'. At a meeting of the State Council yesterday, Mr Wen listed the civil aviation, tourism, restaurants, trading and taxi industries as the ones which are in urgent need of government assistance, Xinhua reported yesterday. Mr Wen said the government would boost investment and consumption to ensure stable economic development and minimise losses to meet the country's economic growth targets. '[We] must correctly grasp and tackle relations between Sars fighting and economic development, stressing on fighting Sars on the one hand and promoting economic development on the other hand,' Xinhua reported him as saying. Mr Wen's remarks have reflected the leadership's increasing concerns over the growing impact of Sars on the mainland's booming economy. In the first quarter of this year, the economy grew by 9.9 per cent on top of an 8 per cent growth in 2002. But overseas and mainland economists have slashed their growth forecasts for the mainland this year as Sars has started to hit tourism, trade and transportation as well as slowing down foreign direct investment. Mr Wen said the government would increase spending on projects urgently needed to prevent the spread of Sars and boost the public health system. CCTV reported yesterday that the government has already spent 6 billion yuan (HK$5.64 billion) on fighting Sars. The government would also boost consumption of cars, real estate, telecommunications and Internet services as well as exports and foreign direct investment. In Shanghai, city officials echoed the central government by promising to bail out affected sectors, which include the travel, hotel, transport, retail, restaurant and entertainment industries. 'Since the latter part of April, Sars has had a definite negative impact on the city's consumption,' said vice-chairman of the Shanghai Development Planning Commission, Zhu Zhaosong. Mr Zhu said restaurants and department stores were the most heavily affected, but sales at supermarkets remained stable as more people ate at home. Retail sales rose 8.4 per cent year on year in April, off slightly from 9.1 per cent in the first quarter, he said.
