Government support and rapid economic growth offer
"unprecedented" scope for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
to develop in China, said a senior official?in
Beijing?Saturday.
This year, the Chinese government has for the first time
allocated 50 million yuan (US$6 million) to promote the development
of SMEs, said Chen Yanhai, deputy director of the SME department of
the State Development and Reform Commission.
The government has decided the special fund to help implement
the law on promoting SME development be one of the important items
in the fiscal budget for 2004, Chen said at a forum on the
development of China's SMEs.
The commission will also offer more support for SME development
by formulating favorable policies and ensuring adequate funds, he
said.
In the commission's institutional reform early this year, the
functions of its SME department was expanded so that it is also
responsible for administering and serving SMEs.
Chen said China's rapid economic growth, increasing fixed assets
investment, smooth progress in key infrastructure projects and
reforms, and rising consumer demand are all factors of a sound
environment for SME development. The country's efforts to open
wider to the outside world and further relax state monopoly in more
industries also provide conditions for this purpose.
The official revealed that the commission has finished the
drafting of a document for accelerating the development of the
private sector. The stated major purpose of the document is to urge
government departments at all levels to create a "free, fair and
competitive" external environment for the development of SMEs.
In China, there are 3.02 million SMEs that produce half of the
country's gross domestic product. They also contribute to 60
percent of the country's exports and 43 percent of the tax
revenue.
(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2003)