Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province has allocated a loan worth 10 billion yuan ($1.49 billion) to ease financing difficulties facing small and micro-sized enterprises amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to local media reports.

Small businesses in designated sectors in the city will be entitled to an interest-free loan of up to one million yuan each over the next three months.

The 10-billion-yuan loans are primarily being offered by Bank of Ningbo, Ningbo City Rural Credit Cooperatives Union, Ningbo Commercial Bank and Ningbo Donghai Bank, with the first two contributing 9.668 billion yuan in total.

In addition, the banks and financial institutions have opened green channels for enterprises to apply for loans during the epidemic.

The Bank of Ningbo has formulated specific service plans for enterprises producing daily necessities or protective materials for the prevention and control of the epidemic.

Ningbo City Rural Credit Cooperatives Union has made assistance plans tailored to each enterprise after sorting out a list of enterprises in the industries of manufacturing, wholesale and retail, accommodation and catering that are severely affected by the outbreak.

Thus far, it has surveyed 5,560 small and micro enterprises, which reported a combined loan demand of 3.6 billion yuan.

On top of the loans, the local authorities have rolled out other measures to bolster the epidemic-affected enterprises.

More than 270,000 local companies are expected to benefit from the measures, which include rent exemptions and social security premium rate reductions, among other things.

Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province allocates a loan worth 10 billion yuan to ease financing difficulties facing small and micro-sized enterprises amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. [Photo/cnnb.com.cn]