Photo shows an exterior view of the People's Bank of China in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua

An official with the People's Bank of China (PBC), the country's central bank, said on Tuesday that banks will gradually increase the proportion of loans to be channeled to private enterprises to support their development.

Lu Lei, deputy governor of the PBC, made the statement at a conference promoting the high-quality development of the private sector, held by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in Jinjiang city, East China's Fujian Province, as the country is ramping up efforts to elevate the confidence of the private sector and bolster sustained economic growth, China Central Television (CCTV) reported.

The central bank official said achievements have been made in supporting the development of the private sector, noting that authorities have been stepping up supplies of capital, including the lowering the required reserve ratio, strengthened relending and rediscounting and other supportive policy tools. Currently, the country's total outstanding relending volume reached over 2.2 trillion yuan ($310.23 billion).

In terms of credit policy, the authorities have carried out a program to enhance capabilities of servicing smaller enterprises in order to strengthen the stability of lending of the private sector.

By the end of November 2023, the outstanding lending for privately-held enterprises stood at 41.2 trillion yuan, up 10.4 percent year-on-year. And the outstanding volume of inclusive loans to micro and small businesses stood at 28.9 trillion yuan, an average annual growth rate of 25 percent over recent five years, according to the official.

Meanwhile, the authorities have already supported 140 private enterprises to issue bonds worth a total of 243.8 billion yuan.

"Next, the central bank will enhance precision and effectiveness of servicing the private economy," the official said, according to CCTV.

Lu said that the authorities will expand the diversified financing channels for private enterprises, support private enterprises' financing by issuing bonds and improve cross-border financing convenience to better help them utilize foreign capitals.