China’s top planner vows to help private firms ‘conquer difficulties’ to boost economy

NDRC reassures entrepreneurs they are ‘people of our own’ as slow post-Covid recovery prompts more support for private sector

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Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, says China will “spare no effort” to help private companies. Photo: AP

Published: 6:27pm, 28 Sep 2024Updated: 7:20pm, 28 Sep 2024

China’s top economic planner has reassured private entrepreneurs it will “spare no effort” to help companies “conquer difficulties”, in Beijing’s latest move to revive the economy.

Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), hosted a meeting on Friday with representatives from several private companies to learn about business conditions, problems they were facing and their views and suggestions on the economy, state news agency Xinhua reported.

“Private entrepreneurs are people of our own,” Zheng was quoted as saying. “We’ll spare no effort to help your companies conquer the difficulties.”

Although defined as a supplement to the state economy by the Communist Party, the private sector accounts for more than 50 per cent of China’s tax revenue, 60 per cent of gross domestic product, 70 per cent of technological innovation, 80 per cent of urban employment, and 90 per cent of market entities, according to official data.

Several private sector industries, including internet, tutoring and real estate companies, have been targets of clampdowns in recent years as the party attempted to rein in the “blind expansion” of capital.

However, as the country’s economy has made a slow recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic, Beijing has taken a friendlier stance on the private sector.