Major Chinese cities ramp up support for private enterprises

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By Qi Xijia (Global Times) 14:08, April 18, 2025

An aerial drone photo taken on Jan. 8, 2024 shows robotic arms processing components for new energy vehicles at a private company in Changxing Economic and Technological Development Zone of Huzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Tan Yunfeng/Xinhua)

In a concerted drive, major Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen have announced measures to promote the private economy, in an enhanced bid to foster a more favorable business climate and bolster the confidence of private enterprises.

The Shanghai municipal government held a press conference on Thursday to introduce 26 new measures that benefit the development of the private economy. From now on, private companies will enjoy equal treatment in government procurement as state-owned enterprises.

Support will also be provided to private firms in expanding investment in key industrial sectors, large-scale equipment renewals, and consumer goods trade-in programs. Also, financial institutions are asked to enhance credit availability for private companies.

The capital city of Beijing launched on Thursday a special month to improve services for the private enterprises. The event, which will last until mid-May, will organize more than 320 online and offline recruitment activities to help private enterprises attract talent. And, the city's human resources and social security departments will open more channels to support growth of private companies.

The Shenzhen branch of the People's Bank of China, together with seven other government agencies, issued a notice on further improving financial services for the high-quality development of the private sector in the city. Financing support will go to high-tech private enterprises in artificial intelligence, modern robotics, next-generation information and communication technology, new-energy storage and more.

These efforts will create a more stable, transparent and predictable business environment for private enterprises, boosting their investment confidence and assisting their business operations, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Wang said that the private economy serves as a major driver of China's economic growth, and the sector plays a pivotal role in employment, being a primary absorber of the labor force. Additionally, private enterprises exhibit remarkable vitality in technological innovation.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the production and operation of the private enterprises continued to improve in the first quarter of 2025. In the first three months, the added value of private enterprises above designated size in manufacturing increased by 7.3 percent year-on-year. Private sector investment rose by 0.4 percent in the first quarter of this year, the NBS reported.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Zhong Wenxing)