Microfinance helps 190,000 young start-ups

BEIJING - More than 190,000 young people in China's rural areas have benefited from a microfinance scheme designed to help start-up businesses, new figures from the Central Committee of China Communist Youth League (CCYL) have indicated.

The scheme, which is sponsored by the CCYL and local financial institutions, provides small loans to rural young businesspeople under the age of 40. More than 9.76 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) was provided to the group in the first half of this year, according to a media release issued by the CCYL on Thursday.

Organizations at all levels of the CCYL have initiated various forms of small-loan financial products, raising the amount that can be loaned and streamlining the procedures in people's application.

Interest subsidies have also been introduced by the CCYL in some provinces in central and western China. By mid June, 400 million yuan in such subsidies had been allocated on a provincial level.

The CCYL is also trying to establish a tracking system to measure the efficiency of the small loans and keep a record of the borrowers' credit.