The city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province has allocated 440 million yuan ($71.66 million) credit guarantee fund last year to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to deal with financing difficulties, Harbin Daily reports.

The recipient, the government-led Harbin Enterprise Credit Financing Guarantee Service Center, is a platform that improves local companies’ ability to handle capital shortage.
Among the fund, 200 million was used as bridge loan for SMEs to avoid breaks in the chain of funding and prevent financial risks. The service center has provided 428 million yuan of such short-term loan.

The rest 240 million yuan was employed to fund the city’s entrepreneurship and innovation demonstration base, so as to develop start-up sector, according to the report.