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Development of China's new economy, widely seen as the new driver for the country's economic growth, needs better financial support, a senior economist said.

At the present time, the financial sector cannot meet the demand of enterprises in the new economy, pointed out Ba Shusong, chief economist of the China Banking Association.

Take the biological medicine sector for example, he said. Sixty to 80 percent of investment for enterprises in the industry is needed in the research and development stage. When a company begins to make a profit and can reach the standard for an initial public offering, it probably doesn't need the money anymore, he said.

"The problem is enterprises cannot get financial support when they actually need money, and when they have met financing standards, they have already overcome the financial difficulty," Ba told the audience at the 2018 China New Industry Summit, held in Shenzhen on Sunday. The summit was co-organized by People's Daily and China Merchants Group.

"It is very important that the financial sector carries out reform that caters to the financing needs of the new economy."

He urged the financial sector to think about how to better serve the new economy in a way that meets demand.

"We can try to use artificial intelligence and big data technologies to explore the unique financing demands of the enterprises and make innovations based on the finding," he suggested.

To embrace the new economy, Hong Kong has made breakthroughs by carrying out its biggest listing reform in decades, allowing biotechnology enterprises that are yet to generate profits to list in its capital market.

A number of enterprises in the new economy have applied for or are preparing to launch IPOs in the financial hub.

According to a report by The Institute of Population and Labor Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the new economy grew at an average rate of 16.1 percent annually between 2007 and 2016.

The report said the new economy took up 14.6 percent of the country's total gross domestic product in 2016.