China's private sector contributes greatly to economic growth: federation leader

BEIJING - China's private sector has made an important contribution to economic growth, head of the country's industry and commerce federation said Tuesday.

The sector now contributes more than 60 percent of China's GDP growth and brings in over half of China's fiscal revenue, according to Gao Yunlong, head of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.

Meanwhile, more than 60 percent of China's fixed-asset investment and outbound investment has been made by private investors, Gao told a press conference on the sidelines of the first session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

The private economy is also playing a stronger role in China's job creation and innovation drive by providing over 80 percent of jobs and contributing more than 70 percent of technological innovation and new products in the country, according to Gao.

He said that last year, more than 90 percent of new jobs were created by private businesses.

At the end of 2017, there were 65.79 million individually-owned businesses and 27.26 million private enterprises in China, which employed some 340 million people.

China's private investment grew 6 percent year on year, 2.8 percentage points higher than a year earlier, to 38.2 trillion yuan (about $6 trillion) last year, according to official data.