Crowds flock to a night market in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on Tuesday. Photo: VCG

China will unswervingly deepen economic reform and focus on solving prominent problems faced by private enterprises in order to promote the growth of the private economy, said a leading official with the country's top economic planner, as government agencies express support for the healthy development of the private sector to bolster a swift economic recovery.

The authorities will step up efforts to further remove barriers to market access, encourage the participation of private enterprises in major national strategic projects, help them overcome difficulties and strengthen intellectual property rights protection for private companies, Zhao Chenxin, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, told the Xinhua News Agency in an interview published over the weekend.

Zhao's comments came as the country intensively emphasizes support for the development of private companies in fresh moves to give entrepreneurs more confidence, and ramp up economic recovery, experts said.

The tone-setting annual Central Economic Work Conference held from December 15 to 16 encourages more private capital to be channeled into the construction of major national projects.

The meeting required that legal and institutional arrangements be made to ensure equal treatment of private enterprises and state-owned enterprises. Legal protection will be provided to the property rights of private enterprises and to the interests of entrepreneurs, according to the meeting.

In addition, the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, said on December 28 that it will continue to lower companies' comprehensive financing costs, and will increase support for private enterprises according to their contribution to the country's economic and social development.‬

The supportive moves are timely and significant, as private enterprises have come up against more difficulties since the outbreak of COVID-19, and they need stronger support from the government and financial institutions, said Cao Heping, an economist at Peking University.

"For example, although financing costs have dropped, it's still hard and expensive for small and micro enterprises to get funding from financial institutions. Without sufficient technological investment and talent, private companies will lack transformation and upgrading capability," Cao told the Global Times on Monday.

The healthy development of the private enterprises has become an important endogenous force for China's economic growth, and can play a larger role in stabilizing growth and employment, and in promoting structural adjustment and innovation, Zhou Dewen, deputy director of the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, told the Global Times.

Chinese private companies contribute to over half of the country's tax revenue, nearly 60 percent of its GDP, over 70 percent of its technological innovation, over 80 percent of the country's urban employment and make up 90 percent of the number of enterprises in the country, Zhou said.

In addition, the private sector contributes to more than half of the country's total investment and foreign trade, official data showed.

In the face of global economic uncertainties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, China has implemented a series of polices such as the combination of tax and fee cuts and fiscal support, to boost the confidence of the private sector, especially micro, small and medium-sized companies.

Reflecting the earnest implementation of supportive policies, the country's first private railway estate ownership certificate was issued in Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on December 14, which will provide a reference for estate ownership registration of more private railway lines across the country, according to the local government.

Lately, multiple provinces have also been demonstrating their support through concrete actions. Provincial heads of Zhejiang Province, Shaanxi Province and Southwest China's Chongqing have offered renewed supportive measures to private companies. Central China's Henan Province held a meeting for the high-quality development of the private economy and honored outstanding private firms and entrepreneurs, according to local media reports.

Along with the implementation of supportive policies and the optimization of the business environment, the vitality and potential of more private enterprises will be unleashed and they will be given huge development room through upgrading and transformation, Cao said.