Private firms on tap for more govt assistance

China will soon roll out a series of policy measures to support more private investment and boost private enterprises as part of a package of measures to bolster corporate confidence and revive economic recovery, the country's top economic regulator said on Thursday.

The announcement came a day after China issued a top-level document for promoting the development of the private sector, which details 31 measures such as supporting private enterprises' access to funding, reducing market entry barriers and promoting fair competition.

Li Chunlin, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the commission will work with relevant parties to introduce supportive measures to implement the recently announced guidance, and two documents will be released soon to promote the development of the private sector and boost private investment.

Li said at a news conference in Beijing on Thursday that the document for supporting more private investment will focus on key areas, improve the mechanism for ensuring the provision of factors of production, and incentivize the private sector to increase investment.

He added that the two documents will be part of the country's efforts to build a "1+N" policy system for supporting private businesses, in which"1" is the recently announced top-level guidance and "N" is the detailed plan for various sectors.

Private firms, a key driving force behind China's economic ascent during the past decades, contribute more than 60 percent of gross domestic product, 80 percent of urban employment and 90 percent of market entities, official data showed.

Li said the private sector is playing a key role in shoring up growth and boosting trade, and it also serves as "a vital force in advancing Chinese modernization and building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects".

To fully implement the steps mapped out by the guidance, the NDRC will make more efforts to continuously remove policy measures hindering the construction of a unified national market and fair competition as well as resolve problems related to market entry.

For instance, Li said the country will roll out an updated negative list for market access and formulate regulations on fair competition review in a bid to create a better development environment for the private sector.

The NDRC recently held three symposiums, on July 3, July 10 and Monday, to address private enterprises' concerns and support their sustainable development.

The NDRC said at a recent news conference that it will continue to play a role in facilitating communication with private enterprises.

According to the commission, it will regularly hold symposiums with private businesspeople to attentively listen to their genuine thoughts, actively address their specific concerns, and promptly assess the implementation effects of current policies in an objective fashion.

Looking into the future, the NDRC said it will further enhance macroeconomic policies, thoroughly examine and deliberate policy recommendations at the macro level, and coordinate local departments to jointly create a favorable business environment.

During the news conference on Thursday, Vice-Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xu Xiaolan highlighted the key role of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in boosting innovation, saying the ministry is studying and formulating policy measures to promote the high-quality development of specialized and sophisticated SMEs.

"We will continue to increase the support for specialized and sophisticated SMEs and boost their development," Xu said.

Regarding issues faced by MSMEs such as the lack of funding, she said her ministry will work with relevant parties to make efforts to foster more specialized and sophisticated smaller firms to go public for financing, better implement the policy of providing rewards and subsidies to reduce financing guarantee fees for micro and small businesses, and further support their access to funding.