Putuo, a district in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province, has been cooperating with local banks to support high-quality small and micro-sized companies since last year, local media reported.

More than 570 small and micro-sized companies in Putuo have been identified as high-quality by the local government, 125 of which have received 141 million yuan ($21.15 million) worth of loans.

With the assistance of a 1 million yuan credit loan from Putuo Rural Commercial Bank, Zhejiang Bowei Food Machinery Co Ltd, a manufacturer of can filling and sealing equipment, was able to overcome difficulties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year, according to Zhang Jijun, general manager of Bowei.

Zhang said that as a provincial technology-based micro-sized company, Bowei is eligible to receive a credit line of 8 million yuan by the Putuo district government, including 3 million yuan in loans.

Since June this year, Putuo has been cooperating with local banks to allocate 4 billion yuan to support self-employed entrepreneurs over the following two years and visit all self-employed entrepreneurs at physical stores in the district within the year.

To date, Putuo has issued 192 million yuan in loans to 148 self-employed entrepreneurs.