China Scraps National Growth Target for Inclusive Small-Business Loans

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, inclusive finance continued to expand in scale and coverage. Inclusive small and micro business loans grew at an average annual rate of more than 20%, and the number of private small and micro businesses with credit lines exceeded 60 million, covering about one-third of all business entities. Compared with a scale of about RMB 9.4 trillion at the end of 2018, the total increased more than threefold. A broad-coverage, multi-tier inclusive financial services system has now largely taken shape.

Data on the scale, quality and pricing of inclusive finance have shifted in tandem. As of the end of June 2026, the balance of inclusive small and micro business loans stood at RMB 38.88 trillion, up 8.03% year on year. Among operating loans to farming households, the share of unsecured loans rose to 53.53%, meaning more than half of such loans no longer require collateral. In the first quarter of 2026, the average interest rate on newly issued inclusive small and micro loans was 3.64%, down 0.19 percentage points from the full-year 2025 level.

In May 2026, the National Financial Regulatory Administration removed, for the first time, the nationwide hard target that inclusive small and micro business loan growth must be no lower than overall loan growth. The focus of assessment shifted to stable lending, improved structure, higher quality and sustainability, with quality indicators such as the share of first-time borrowers, unsecured loans and medium- and long-term loans given greater prominence.