Reforms must target private enterprises 
2019-03-07
CHINA should push forward its reform to facilitate the development of private enterprises, a political adviser urged yesterday.
The reform should give them tangible benefits in terms of steady development and fair competition, said Liu Shijin, deputy director of the economic committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Compared with state-owned enterprises, private enterprises have experienced difficulties, partly due to insufficient credit support, Liu said.
The reform of existing financial enterprises should be promoted, and more importantly, the country should relax market access for the development of a number of financial institutions and financial products that provide special services to smaller firms, Liu said.
The private sector plays an important role in the economic system, contributing to more than 50 percent of tax revenue, 60 percent of GDP, 70 percent of technological innovation, 80 percent of urban employment and 90 percent of new jobs and new firms.
“The private sector and the country’s economic and social development have been closely related to each other, and formed a community of a shared future,” Liu said.
However, the difficulties that private firms and small businesses face in accessing affordable financing have not yet been effectively solved.
The business environment still falls short of market entities’ expectations, according to a government work report delivered on Tuesday by Premier Li Keqiang at the opening of the annual legislative session.
Loans to micro and small businesses by China’s large state-owned commercial banks will increase by more than 30 percent in 2019, the report said.
Nan Cunhui, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee and chairman of power equipment giant Chint Group, said private enterprises have truly felt the government’s confidence in and policy support for the private sector.
“The only change is that what we receive keeps becoming better and better,” he said.
The tax-cut measures for the manufacturing sector put forward in the government work report is a big stimulus to private enterprises and the whole sector.
Liu added that private firms also need to have conditions for equal development and a level playing field.
Policy support is important, but what’s more important is a stable law-based environment that does not alter with short-term policy changes.
“We will strive to create a positive business environment in which entrepreneurs can be free of concerns in doing business and running companies,” the government work report said.
