Support for private sector to ramp up

China's top economic regulator is expected to ramp up support for the private sector, with greater emphasis on targeted, problem-oriented policymaking to address the real challenges of enterprises, thereby stabilizing policy expectations and bolstering confidence, experts said on Tuesday.

They said that boosting confidence among private enterprises requires moving beyond short-term policy stimulus and putting in place more durable institutional frameworks to create a predictable, credible and reliable development environment.

Their comments came after the National Development and Reform Commission held a symposium with private enterprises in Beijing recently to gather views and policy suggestions on economic work for the coming year.

During the symposium, major private companies from a range of sectors — including home appliance and auto parts manufacturing, agricultural and livestock product processing, education informatization and biopharmaceutical research — shared views on the opportunities and challenges facing their sectors.

They called for stronger support next year for private enterprises in innovation and financing, better implementation of equipment upgrade and consumer goods trade-in policies, tighter oversight of government special funds and faster resolution of overdue payments to enterprises.

Zheng Shanjie, head of the NDRC, said enterprises are the core micro-level market entities, and macro policies should deliver tangible benefits to them, addressing practical difficulties and improving the overall development environment.

Zhu Keli, founding director of the China Institute of New Economy, said Zheng's remarks have sent a clear signal of a further shift in policymaking from broad macro guidance toward more tangible effects at the enterprise level, alongside increasingly precise and targeted problem-solving mechanisms.

"The approach of tailoring responses to different concerns makes policy implementation more targeted and helps avoid the pitfalls of one-size-fits-all solutions or overly broad rhetoric," Zhu added.

A steady rollout of supportive government policies has eased pressure on market entities, improved the business environment for private enterprises, dispelled entrepreneurs' concerns over policy uncertainty, and reinforced overall market confidence, said Qi Xiangdong, chairman of cybersecurity company Qi-Anxin Technology Group.

The NDRC will prioritize expanding domestic demand, strengthening homegrown innovation, advancing reform and opening-up, and further institutionalizing regular communication between government and businesses to foster the sound development of the private economy, the regulator said in a statement released after the symposium.

Lou Feipeng, a researcher at the Postal Savings Bank of China, said the country's top economic regulator is expected to scale up investment and financing support in the year ahead, with policy tools such as the national venture capital guidance fund playing a larger role in backing strategic emerging industries and early and mid-stage technology enterprises.

Bai Wenxi, vice-chairman of China Enterprise Capital Union, said policies supporting equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-in programs may see further refinement next year, including adjustments to eligibility standards, subsidy mechanisms and exit arrangements, to improve targeting of support and shorten disbursement timelines.

Li Jiaying contributed to this story.