BEIJING — The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, reiterated the importance of the financial sector in serving the real economy on Nov 19.

At a PBOC meeting presided over by central bank governor Yi Gang, participants of the conference agreed that the financial sector had offered steady support to the real economy in 2019.

However, achieving stable macroeconomic and financial operation still faces challenges, economic downward pressure continues to increase, and social credit still faces partial pressure of contraction, according to a statement released after the meeting.

Yi said continued efforts should be made to strengthen counter-cyclical adjustments and beef up credit support for the real economy. He underscored that the increases in M2 money supply and aggregate financing should be in keeping with nominal GDP growth.

The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, rose 8.4 percent year-on-year to 194.56 trillion yuan (about $27.7 trillion) at the end of October, PBOC data showed.

The M2 growth was the same as that at the end of September but was 0.4 percentage points higher than the same period last year. Its growth this year basically matched that of nominal GDP growth.

China will continue to implement a prudent monetary policy and see banks contribute more to financing the real economy, according to the statement.

Yi also urged giving full play to the role of the loan prime rate (LPR) mechanism in bringing down real loan interest rates as well as continued efforts in improving banks' lending capacities by replenishing capital.