As we enter the next stage of medium-to-high growth, China's economy is also facing challenges from the external environment. Against this backdrop, the "private economy," which contributes 23 percent to the country's GDP and provides 80% of jobs, has become a powerful engine for economic growth, and is expected to regain its leading role.
Following the release of the "Opinions of the Communist Party of China on Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy" on July 19 this year, that is, the "31 Articles of the Private Economy", as a supporting policy, the "Notice of the National Development and Reform Commission and Other Departments on the Implementation of Several Recent Measures to Promote the Development of the Private Economy", that is, the "28 Articles on Promoting the Development of the Private Economy", was subsequently implemented. On November 27, the eight departments jointly issued the "25 Articles of the Private Economy" - Notice on Strengthening Financial Support Measures to Help the Development and Growth of the Private Economy.
All departments are taking active actions to dredge up obstacles, pave the way, and support the development of the private economy.
Improving the environment
Help private enterprises thrive
The survival and thriving of a business requires an environment. Duan Yongji, President of Sitong Group, said on December 2 at the "Financial China 2023 Annual Conference and the 21st Financial Billboard" that it includes the political environment, economic environment, legal environment and cultural environment. In order to effectively boost the confidence of private enterprises, it is necessary to thoroughly improve the environment from top to bottom in these four aspects. "You can't support the policy, just listen to the sound of the stairs, and don't see people coming down. ”
For example, the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to "give full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources". To really put this sentence into practice, "first of all, we must make a white list, distinguish between the resources controlled by the market and the resources allocated by the market, and introduce detailed rules to implement the market-oriented reform of resource allocation, such as the proportion of bank loans allocated to private enterprises;Second, the competition evaluation criteria should be open and transparent, and thirdly, the supervisory role of the supervisory agency in the allocation of market resources should be brought into play. Duan Yongji said.
Hu Deping, former party secretary of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, said bluntly that he hoped that there would be no more ownership discrimination in the financial industry. He pointed out that banks and bond markets are massive financial information platforms and credit platforms, "we should pay attention to the new format of the sharing platform, which is also an important area to vigorously support the private economy, and encourage it to fully develop, so that the productivity and production relations in the new era can be self-consistent." ”
In the view of Zhang Weiying, a professor at Peking University Development Institute, economists have a wrong understanding of the market in the dimension of "letting the market play a decisive role in the allocation of resources", not simply allocating given resources, but allowing human creativity and imagination to be freely played. "Entrepreneurs have the idea of commercial value to change society, but they must have the urge to do things, and if they lack impulse, the role of policy is limited. ”
From the institutional perspective, creating a good business environment for the private economy "does not require special preferential treatment from the law, but only a fair and just environment under the law." This requires the protection of the legal system, the necessary relaxation of restrictions on private enterprises, and the promotion of a policy of light punishment. Luo Xiang, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law, proposed that for the development of private enterprises, the legal rules should be as clear as possible, provide reasonable expectations for the development of enterprises, and protect their legitimate rights and interests.
The system is open
Awaken the confidence of private entrepreneurs
Policies to encourage the development of the private economy have been intensively introduced, but the reality is that private enterprises still lack confidence in investment. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to October 2023, the national investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) 419409 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29%。Among them, the private investment in fixed assets was 215863 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 05%。
More important than policy is the system. Wu Xiaoqiu, former vice president of Chinese Renmin University and president of the National Institute of Financial Research, analyzed that policies are short-term and targeted, and it is difficult to find the right direction through the continuous adjustment of specific policies. The system is formed on the basis of conforming to the principles of the modern market economy. People's confidence comes from the system, from the rule of law, and from the deep logic. The essence of believing in the power of the system is to believe in the power of the market and the power of the rule of law.
Wei Jianguo, former vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce and member of the senior expert advisory committee of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, also believes that to boost the confidence of private enterprises, in addition to increasing the issuance of treasury bonds, increasing projects and infrastructure construction and other temporary and short-term measures, the more critical is institutional opening, such as the opening of the financial system to support the economy, and doing a good job in innovative finance, digital finance, inclusive finance, green finance, etc. In addition, it is also necessary to solve the problem of arrears of private debts owed by central and state-owned enterprises and create a better investment environment for private enterprises.
Correspondingly, Wang Boming, editor-in-chief of Caijing magazine, said that to awaken the confidence of private entrepreneurs, it is mainly by adhering to and promoting reform and opening up, promoting reform with opening up, and boosting high-level opening up with reform. "At present, it is urgent to achieve new breakthroughs at the conceptual and theoretical level, and the most important thing is to break the conceptual and theoretical shackles around ownership, truly treat enterprises of all kinds of ownership as one, and be equal before the law and in front of various industrial policies, financial and tax incentives, and macroeconomic regulation and control. ”
It has become particularly important to encourage enterprise innovation by boosting confidence, and to promote secondary economic growth through enterprise innovation. "The spirit of innovation is to find new opportunities, new industrial directions, and new development paths when the market is in a downturn. The downturn can be overcome if the confidence of private companies is boosted and they are fully equipped to develop their spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. Duan Yongji said. Liu Shijin also said, "To promote Chinese-style modernization, cross the middle-income trap, and rely more on innovation-driven, entrepreneurial spirit is needed." ”