The central government will allow companies to defer some insurance payments to support their business and those who face losing their jobs due to the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and State Taxation Administration has released a notice allowing companies in five sectors including catering, retail, tourism and transportation to defer the payment of their employees' insurance for pensions, unemployment and work-related injury.

Companies are allowed to defer the payments for pension insurance for three months, from April to June, but then must pay the arrears by the end of 2022. No overdue fees will be charged.

A yearlong exemption is being provided on unemployment and work-related injury insurance. According to the notice, businesses can apply to defer the payment of their employees' unemployment and work-related injury insurance from April this year to March 2023.

Companies won't be fined for delaying the payments as long as these arrears are paid by April 2023. Those who have already paid these insurance fees for April can apply for a refund, said the notice.

Individual businesses and those flexibly employed who are covered by State-level pension insurance and have problems paying their own insurance fees can apply to defer the payment. They can pay the arrears by the end of 2023 without incurring overdue fees.

"It's estimated that these policies and measures will help save companies and individual businesses cash flow of over 80 billion yuan ($11.7 billion), which will be of great importance to relieve their financial pressures and in stabilizing the society," Zheng Wenmin, director of the social insurance fees department of the State Taxation Administration, said at a news conference on Thursday.

Yu Jiadong, vice-minister of human resources and social security, said at the news conference that the nation has released several relief measures to help businesses and individuals to pull through the hard times, and the newly updated one is a more comprehensive and precise policy.

"We've streamlined the review procedures to secure a prompt response to companies' needs. Also, we've added some new items, for example, to give small and medium-sized companies allowances to help them retain their workers," he said. "We have also transferred more money from the unemployment insurance pool as funds for working skills training, which will help the labor market to increase its competitiveness in the job market."

He added that the unemployment insurance funds remain stable so far, and offer strong support in the event of possible massive unemployment.

"We will enhance supervision of the funds and adjust their expenditure structure according to the practical situation to secure a balanced budget," he added.