A panoramic view of Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/hz66.com]

Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province reduced various costs of enterprises by 11.04 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) in the first six months of this year, official data showed.

The amount made up 61.3 percent of the target set by the city for this year.

The city has rolled out a series of measures to reduce financial burdens on local enterprises, such as lowering their expenses  in energy consumption, logistics, and financing, as well as waiving taxes and social security payments.

As of the end of June this year, local businesses had been exempt from 8.587 billion yuan in taxes and 260 million yuan in social security payments.

In addition, the city had also helped them save 959 million yuan in energy consumption costs, 683 million yuan in logistics costs, and 101 million yuan in financing costs.

Businesses from Huzhou are able to apply for the redemption of these preferential policies promised by the local government on Zheliban, an online administrative service platform in Zhejiang.

The decreased burdens have greatly bolstered their profitability, as they have effectively offset the sharp rise in raw material and labor costs.

From January to June, the profits of industrial enterprises above designated size expanded by 44 percent, according to the Huzhou municipal bureau of economy and information technology.