Chinese enterprises in the private sector saw robust growth in the amount of debt financing instruments issued by them in March, amid efforts to tide over the COVID-19 strains.

The amount surged 75 percent year on year to 64.1 billion yuan (about 9.05 billion U.S. dollars) last month, data from the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII) showed.

The surge was recorded in industries like telecommunications, wholesales and retails, large-scale manufacturing, raw materials and pharmaceutical sector.

The net financing of private enterprises hit 20 billion yuan, according to the NAFMII.

In March, a total of 144 anti-coronavirus bonds were issued via debt financing instruments, worth 93.4 billion yuan.

About 27 percent of bonds issued by private enterprises were for epidemic prevention and control, 10 percentage points higher than the market average.

The scale of bond issuance financing in the consumer industry, which was hit hard by the epidemic, has risen. Industries such as hotels, restaurants, media, culture and textile are actively supplementing working capital through bond issuance, with the amount of issuance increasing by over 100 percent year on year.

Some investors believe that the issuance of anti-coronavirus bonds can ease the financing strains for private enterprises and reduce their credit risks, while shoring up market confidence, said the NAFMII.

(With input from Xinhua)