BEIJING — China's central bank said on Dec 31 that this year's target that the country's financial institutions save enterprises 1.5 trillion yuan (about $229.9 billion) was achieved.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said that in 2020 it deferred payments of principals and interests for loans worth more than 6 trillion yuan. It granted inclusive loans worth more than 3 trillion yuan for small and micro companies, benefiting more than 30 million business entities.

Yi Gang, governor of the PBOC, said the central bank employed multiple tools to reduce the real economy's financing costs amid the COVID-19 epidemic. He cited an increase of the re-lending and re-discount quota by 1 trillion yuan and two new monetary policy instrument introductions to channel funds into the real economy.

In 2021, the first year of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period, the central bank will provide practical financial support for China's new development paradigm, Yi said.

China unveiled moves earlier this year to pursue a new development paradigm of a "dual circulation", which allows the domestic and overseas markets to reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay.