National Assembly approves bill on support for SMEs

 The National Assembly (NA) approved a draft law on support for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the sitting on June 12.

As many as 83.5 percent of the NA deputies present at the sitting voted for the bill, which comprises four chapters with 35 articles.

Before voting, the legislators heard a report on further explanations of the draft law. The NA Standing Committee said support in the draft law is provided based on business sizes. Companies which are set up, operate in accordance with the Enterprise Law, and satisfy SME criteria in this SME support law will receive assistance.

However, if the bill stipulates support for many types of businesses, such as non-public education and training establishments and businesses employing the disabled or investing in environmental protection, it will overlap the scope of other laws, the Standing Committee noted.

It added among beneficiary SMEs, the draft law provides greater assistance to smaller businesses. It included some regulations like Article 10 and Article 13 on support for micro and small companies. Concrete tax aid will be proposed to the NA for consideration when tax-related laws are revised, and micro and small enterprises are set to benefit from higher tax aid levels.

With 88.8 percent of approval votes, the parliament also passed a draft resolution on its supervision programme in 2018.

Accordingly, at its fifth session next year, the NA will look into the Government’s supplementary report on the outcomes of the implementation of the socio-economic development and state budget plan in 2017, along with a report on the realisation of the socio-economic development and state budget plan in the first months of 2018.

It will also consider a report on the state budget balance in 2016 and other reports of relevant agencies.

At the fifth session, the NA is set to carry out question-answer sessions and supervise the implementation of policies and law on managing and using State capital and assets at businesses, as well as the equitisation of State-owned enterprises from 2011 to 2016.

The morning session of the NA on June 12 was attended by President of the National Assembly of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernandez, who also delivered a speech at the event.-VNA