BEIJING — China's proactive fiscal policy had been more active and fruitful in 2020 amid efforts to soften the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, according to a report released by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on March 6.

The country has set up the mechanism to channel funds directly from the central government to prefecture and county governments. It took only 20 days to channel more than 95 percent of the funds, the report said.

Among the 2 trillion yuan (about $308.1) of transferred funds, 1.56 trillion yuan has been put into use, giving strong support to key areas, it added.

To help enterprises tide over difficulties, China's tax and fee cuts exceeded 2.6 trillion yuan last year, according to the report.

Throughout last year, there were 11.44 million newly registered tax-paying market entities in China, an increase of 10.1 percent year-on-year, providing strong support for employment.

The MOF will improve the quality, efficiency, and sustainability of the proactive fiscal policy, and actively play the role of finance to ensure that the 14th Five-Year Plan has a good start, said the report.