Shanxi Poverty Alleviation and Development Investment Co -- based in North China's Shanxi province -- has distributed poverty relief funding of 4.66 billion yuan ($657.87 million) to 269 leading enterprises engaged in poverty alleviation and professional cooperatives in the province since 2018, strongly supporting local poor people to lift themselves out of poverty and increase their incomes.

Due to the difficulty in securing loans for industrial enterprises in poor areas, Shanxi established a poverty relief fund in 2017 and entrusted Shanxi Poverty Alleviation and Development Investment Co to operate and support the industrial poverty alleviation projects. 

"By cooperating with financial institutions such as Shanxi Rural Credit Union and the Shanxi branch of Agricultural Development Bank of China, our company coordinates with banks to simplify loan procedures, ensure that enterprises supported by the poverty relief fund have at least one guarantee method, which helps solve the financing problems of agricultural enterprises," said Wang Shangfu, chairman of Shanxi Poverty Alleviation and Development Investment Co. 

As a result, the company issued poverty relief loans of 2.29 billion yuan to 162 enterprises in 41 poor counties and to two non-poor counties in 10 cities in Shanxi in 2018. 

It also extended poverty relief loans of 2.38 billion yuan to 107 enterprises in 37 counties and districts in 10 cities in Shanxi in 2019.