A total of 215 financing projects valued at more than 127 billion yuan ($19.43 billion) are launched in Zhangjiagang. [zhangjiagangfabu365]

A total of 215 financing projects valued at more than 127 billion yuan ($19.43 billion) were launched during the 2021 Zhangjiagang Financial Innovation and Development Conference held in the county-level city of Zhangjiagang on March 21.

Since last year, Zhangjiagang has taken strong measures to make financing for medium, small, and micro-sized firms easier and more affordable, with more than 20 billion yuan allocated to around 18,000 such firms through financing and bank crediting.

Pan Guoqiang, Party secretary of Zhangjiagang, said that Zhangjiagang has put strong focus on the development of the financial sector in recent years. Statistics show that in 2020, the added-value of the city's financial sector was 20.44 billion yuan, helping increase Zhangjiagang's GDP by 0.48 percent.

Pan added that the city also guided financial institutions in increasing credit supply and bringing down the cost of borrowing, ensuring targeted and efficient support for the real economy.

The local government plans to further improve its business environment for the healthy development of the financial industry and boost cooperation between enterprises and banks, according to Pan.