China will defer tax payment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector to ease the impact of rising costs, a State Council executive meeting decided on Wednesday.

The decision would in effect defer around 200 billion yuan (31.32 billion U.S. dollars) of tax payment for manufacturing SMEs, the meeting said.

The meeting also decided to defer tax payment of around 17 billion yuan for coal-fired power companies and heating firms to ease their operating difficulties. Enditem