BEIJING -- China's banking and insurance regulator issued a circular Sunday on further promoting high-quality development of financial services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 2021.

Efforts will be made to enhance the effective growth of financial support to SMEs and significantly improve its quality, efficiency and effectiveness, according to the circular issued by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Vowing to speed up the expansion of inclusive loans to SMEs and increase the number of borrowers this year, the circular urges the five major banks to increase their inclusive loans to the firms by over 30 percent.

It requires large and joint-stock banks to play a leading role in optimizing services to SMEs borrowing for the first time and make the number of new first-time borrowers exceed that of last year.

Measures will be taken to continue the growth of initial, renewed and credit loans to SMEs. The focus will be on increasing medium- and long-term credit support for advanced manufacturing, strategic emerging industries, and the industrial and supply chains, says the circular.

Financial services to technology-based SMEs will be improved to promote industrialization and large-scale application of new technologies. Comprehensive financial service plans will cover upstream and downstream SMEs of core enterprises in the industrial and supply chains.

The circular also encourages enhanced cooperation between banking and insurance institutions to offer innovative products to SMEs under the premise of controllable risks.

China's inclusive loans to SMEs have registered rapid growth for three consecutive years. The balance of outstanding loans reached 16.81 trillion yuan (about $2.59 trillion) by the end of March 2021, surging by 33.87 percent year-on-year, which covered more than 27.4 million borrowers.