A file photo shows a pedestrian walks past the headquarters building of the People's Bank of China in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua)

The People's Bank of China (PBC), the country's central bank, will appropriately raise risk tolerance and increase medium- and long-term loans to bolster manufacturing, and ramp up financial support for technological innovation, an official from the PBC said during a routine press briefing on Tuesday.

The move followed a statement released by the State Council on Monday aimed to increase financing to support operation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

According to the State Council statement, the government is set to strengthen financial support for SMEs by reducing taxes and fees, while deploying new credit-line of 300 billion yuan ($46.9 billion) for small- and micro-sized enterprises.

Affected by an energy crunch and recent sporadic coronavirus flare-ups, coupled with elevated prices of materials and equipment, the SMEs are facing increasing downward pressure.

Xu Xiaolan, an official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said during the briefing that the government will promote transfer of beneficial policies for enterprises into long-term supportive policies, in order to stabilize growth prospects as well as confidence of the SMEs - a prime source of employment in the country.

Zou Lan, an official from the PBC noted that it will further promote the implementation of monetary policy tools, including special loans for efficient and clean use of coal, to help enterprises further reduce carbon emissions. On November 8, the central bank pledged that it will provide 60 percent of the loan principal to enterprises for carbon emission cuts, with a one-year preferential interest rate of just 1.75 percent.

"We will guide financial institutions to meet reasonable financing needs of eligible enterprises, and provide preferential interest rate financing for key projects, so as to improve the clean and efficient use of coal," Zou said.

Global Times