Workers busy for fulfiling overseas orders at a textile company in Zibo, east China's Shandong Province, Feb 5, 2025. (Photo: CFP)

China's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) saw a steadily improving development environment in 2025, supported by the country's pursuit of new, high-quality economic growth and targeted policy measures aimed at stabilizing employment, businesses, markets and expectations, a new report has revealed.

The 2025 report on the development environment of SMEs was released Thursday by the China Center for Promotion of SME Development. The assessment covered 50 cities, using an indicator system to evaluate the market, legal, financing, innovation and policy environments for SMEs.

It found that the overall SME development environment across the cities assessed continued to improve, with the coefficient of variation in comprehensive scores narrowing further from the previous year, indicating a shrinking gap among cities.

A fair and competitive market order took shape at a faster pace, with over 90 percent of enterprises satisfied with fair market access and easier access to production factors. Law enforcement became more standardized, and administrative reconsideration played a major role in resolving administrative disputes, with 23 cities achieving a comprehensive settlement rate of over 80 percent, according to the report.

Inclusive finance expanded its coverage and improved credit accessibility, with the average share of inclusive loans to micro and small enterprises in total RMB loans reaching 12.04 percent among assessed cities.

The innovation environment also saw notable enhancement, with surveyed cities home to more than 11,200 such "little giant" firms -- a title for outstanding specialized and high-tech SMEs -- accounting for over 60 percent of the national total. Overall satisfaction with all pro-enterprise policies exceeded 80 percent, as SMEs gained more accurate and convenient access to services and resources, said the report.