More details of Chinese shipbuilding stimulus plan revealed

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Shanghai: China will extend the policy of giving a 17 percent subsidy on ship prices for domestic ocean-going ship buyers till 2012 and also offer preferential interest rates to shipbuilders as a part of the stimulus package for the industry, a local newspaper reported. The ship price, however, does not include the value added tax, Oriental Morning Post reported. The stimulus package also calls for the country to raise its annual shipbuilding capacity to 50 million dead weight tons in 2011 with three world-level shipbuilding bases in the Bohai Bay, Yangtze River entrance and Pearl River entrance, the newspaper said. Banks would also be encouraged to offer financing support for ship buyers through issuance of US dollar bonds to avoid order cancellations. The nation will also help China State Shipbuilding Co Ltd and China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, the two largest shipyards in China, to carry out mergers and acquisitions through capital injection and the establishment of an industrial fund. Qualified domestic shipyards would be encouraged to list or issue bonds to solve capital shortage problems.  [23/03/09]