Amid China’s slowing economic growth, the government has pledged to support small and micro-sized businesses with a 15 billion-yuan ($2.4 billion) fund. China’s economy grew 8.9 % in the last quarter of 2011, marking the slowest growth in 10 quarters, mainly due to a slowdown in exports and curbs on the property market. Expansion may cool to about 7.5% this quarter and 7.6% in the three months through June, until policies to spur growth kick in, according to Nomura Holdings Inc. 

 The government will extend preferential tax policies for small companies until 2015 and will ask banks to increase tolerance of bad loans to these businesses, according to a statement posted on the central government website.

 This strategic move is important for China’s economy to help overcome the impact from the global financial crisis and to maintain a stable and fast growth rate.