China's financial institutions have beefed up support for the country's small businesses in the past 10 years, including offering inclusive loans and lowering financing costs, said Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China.

Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, attends a press conference held by the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Beijing on June 23, 2022. [Photo by Xu Xiang/China SCIO]

Chen said during a press conference on Thursday that the central bank has launched innovative structural monetary policy tools to help small and micro businesses offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bank has supported micro, small, and medium-sized businesses to defer a total of 13.1 trillion yuan of principal and interest repayments on loans. Besides, a total of 10.3 trillion yuan of inclusive loans have been issued to small and micro firms. 

The central bank has also deepened reforms to lower financing costs for small businesses, Chen said. In April, the newly issued loan interest rate for small and micro firms was 5.13%, nearly 1 percentage point lower from five years ago. 

Chen also said that the central bank has worked on building long-term mechanisms to better serve small businesses, including promoting the country's various financial institutions to set up inclusive finance departments. By the end of April, more than 51 million small and micro businesses had access to inclusive loans, accounting for one third of all market entities in China.

The financing channels for small businesses have also been expanded over the past years, Chen said, noting that by the end of April, a total of 1.78 trillion yuan of special-purpose bonds had been issued for small and micro businesses.  

"With joint efforts from various parties, it has been easier for small and micro businesses to secure financing and their financing costs have become lower," Chen said. 

By the end of April, outstanding loans to China's small and micro businesses stood at 38.8 trillion yuan, which is 3.35 times of that at the end of 2012, Chen said.