Premier vows to cut costs for small firms

State Council meeting works to bring down financing burdens on enterprises

China will work harder to ensure financing costs faced by micro and small enterprises are further reduced, with a target of making outstanding loans to these firms approved by the five large State-owned commercial banks increase by over 30 percent this year, a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided on Wednesday.

"Lowering these enterprises' financing costs is a pressing issue in our economy today. Our prudent monetary policy should be eased or tightened to the right degree to keep liquidity reasonably sufficient. We need to exercise well-timed regulation rather than flood the economy with stimulus measures," Li said.