China releases white paper on financial services for small businesses

BEIJING -- China has issued a white paper on financial services provided for the country's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on Monday.

As a major source of cultivating new growth drivers, SMEs have played an important role in promoting economic growth, increasing jobs and stimulating innovation, says the white paper released by authorities including the People's Bank of China and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

China's capacity of providing financial services for the SMEs has seen remarkable improvement, with the credit supply constantly increased, financing cost steadily lowered and financial coverage widened.

By the end of 2018, nationwide outstanding inclusive loans to SMEs reached 8 trillion yuan (about $1.12 trillion), up 18 percent year-on-year and 8.2 percentage points faster than the growth at the end of the year before, according to the paper.