A batch of 49 business projects with a total investment over 20.6 billion yuan (US$3 billion) were signed via the Internet by Minhang District government on Wednesday.

The projects include 13 in the biomedicine industry, nine in new information technology, eight in high-end manufacturing and four in modern financing.

Five involve investment over 1 billion yuan each and 33 of over 100 million yuan.

There are seven projects invested in by foreign ventures with a combined investment of 2.79 billion yuan.

To promote economic recovery in the district, the local government has been sparing no efforts in improving the business environment to attract investment.

Since September, 2020, it has been organizing online project signing ceremonies every month. So far, 428 projects have been signed with planned investments totalling almost 140 billion yuan.

On Tuesday, 16 banks in the district signed loan agreements to release 332 million yuan to 16 enterprises in industries such as pandemic prevention and control, daily necessities, high-tech and new technologies and medical testing, as well as small and micro-sized companies severely affected by the pandemic.

The district has organized local banks to set up a 20-billion-yuan special-purpose loan program to ease the burden on enterprises and industries affected by the pandemic and fuel momentum for their development.

Under the program, enterprises can enjoy a 30 percent deduction on prime loan interest rates and 20 percent interest subsidies from the district government.

Since April, the district government has distributed 1.88 million yuan of special supporting funds to enterprises.