Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, said on Monday that it would offer billions of dollars of cheap credit to firms that had run into difficulty because of disruptions caused by the coronavirus crisis.
Alibaba said this on the Weibo messaging service.
“Some 20 billion Yuan (2.86 billion dollars) of low-interest credit is to be made available via the company’s affiliate Ant Financial,’’ it said.
Firms from Hubei Province, which has borne the brunt of the virus, are to be given preference.
Life for the 45 million people in the province and in its capital, 11-million-strong Wuhan, has come virtually to a standstill as the area has been shut off from the outside world.
Meanwhile, the whole country was affected as the virus prompted the extension of the Chinese New Year, which saw many businesses suffer.
The 2.86 billion dollars is to go to small and medium-sized businesses that have done business with Alibaba for over a year.
Also, half of the credit has been earmarked for businesses from Hubei Province, and the other half for firms from the other parts of the country.
The interest is to be set at 20 per cent under the market rate, and there are to be other trade benefits from the deal.