The balance of domestic and foreign currency loans in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province, stood at 2.54516 trillion yuan ($391.56 billion) at the end of 2020, an increase of 326.44 billion yuan over the beginning of last year, according to official data.

The figure represents a yearly uptick of 14.7 percent, 2.2 percentage points higher than the national average and the seventh highest among 36 major cities nationwide.

Meanwhile, the balance of domestic and foreign currency deposits in the city amounted to 2.39882 trillion yuan by the end of last year, up 15 percent year-on-year, the fourth highest among the aforementioned major cities.

The growth in both the balance of loans and deposits indicates that the city's financial system has played an active role in economic recovery and growth in the past year.

In addition, the city saw robust growth in inclusive small and micro loans.

Official data shows the balance of small and micro loans expanded by 42.4 percent year-on-year to 269.25 billion yuan in Ningbo in 2020.

Sun Wuqin, president of the Ningbo Financial Research Institute, pointed out that inclusive finance is no doubt of importance to small and micro businesses and that the fast growth in inclusive small and micro loans in the city is due to efforts by the authorities to fuel real economy growth via financial tools.

From January to November last year, more than 13,000 micro and small-sized enterprises in the city applied for loans for the first time.

In 2019, Ningbo was designated as a national pilot zone for the reform of inclusive finance.