BEIJING — Government departments and large State-owned enterprises (SMEs) have paid over 580 billion yuan (about $82.89 billion) of debts to private enterprises in the first 11 months of 2019, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Reducing the burden on enterprises, as an important measure to promote supply-side structural reform, has seen remarkable achievements, Vice-Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xin Guobin said at a meeting on Dec 17.

Some 90 percent of surveyed enterprises were satisfied or very satisfied with the business environment, and more than 70 percent of them reported a significant drop in value-added tax, according to the results of a recent survey conducted by the China Center for Promotion of SME Development.

Enhanced efforts will be made to further ease the burden on enterprises to boost business confidence and promote steady economic development, said Xin.