People walk along the snack street in the Lanshan'gen Scenic Area of Yuncheng city, North China's Shanxi province, on Oct 19, 2019. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BEIJING - China's top banking and insurance regulator vowed to ensure greater support in terms of inclusive financing services for the country's small businesses amid efforts to boost the real economy.

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In 2020, greater efforts will be made to ensure lower financing costs and continued fast loan growth to small and micro firms, according to decisions adopted at an annual work conference of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Overall financing costs of inclusive financing services for small businesses will be lowered by another 0.5 percentage points this year, while the country's five largest banks are expected to see their inclusive loans to small firms grow by over 20 percent year on year.

By the end of 2019, total outstanding inclusive lending to small businesses reached 11.6 trillion yuan (about US$1.67 trillion), up over 25 percent, the commission said.

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The regulator also pledged to step up financial services for private businesses especially those in the manufacturing sector, with a focus on supporting those advanced firms and industrial clusters.