Private investment serves as a key barometer of economic vitality and plays a significant role in stabilizing growth, employment, and expectations. The General Office of the State Council recently issued the “Several Measures on Further Promoting the Development of Private Investment.” What key initiatives do these measures outline? How will their implementation be ensured for tangible results? On November 11, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) held a dedicated press conference, where officials from the Commission and other relevant departments provided analysis and explanations.
On November 11, the NDRC held a dedicated press conference.
Attending the conference were: Guan Peng, Deputy Director-General of the NDRC’s Fixed Asset Investment Department; Ling Zhongguo, Deputy Director-General of the Bureau for the Development of the Private Sector; Li Chunfang, Deputy Director-General of the Industrial Development Department; Xu Xin, Deputy Director-General of the Legal and Institutional Reform Department of the National Energy Administration; and Lu Dongsen, Deputy Director-General of the Digital Economy Department of the National Data Administration. The conference was chaired by Li Chao, Deputy Director-General of the NDRC’s Policy Research Office and Spokesperson for the Commission. The conference introduced the “Several Measures on Further Promoting the Development of Private Investment” and addressed questions from journalists on related aspects. (Photo by Chen Yehua, Xinhua News Agency)
Guan Peng, Deputy Director-General of the NDRC’s Fixed Asset Investment Department, stated that due to factors such as changes in the international environment and adjustments in the real estate market, private investment has slowed down this year. However, excluding real estate development, private project investment in the first three quarters grew by 2.1% year-on-year, maintaining stable growth. The “Several Measures” propose 13 policy initiatives, which can be summarized into three areas: expanding market access, addressing bottlenecks, and strengthening safeguards.
“In the next step, the NDRC will thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and its successive plenary sessions. In accordance with relevant work arrangements, we will establish and improve cross-departmental coordination mechanisms, strengthen policy guidance and overall coordination, promote relevant departments and local governments to refine and implement specific policy measures, ensure each measure is carried out effectively, and make every effort to drive the implementation and impact of these policies,” said Guan Peng.
Productive services act as the “adhesive” for industrial development, permeating the entire chain of production activities and serving as a key support for extending and adding value to industrial chains. The “Several Measures” explicitly call for the removal of unreasonable restrictions on market access for service industry entities.
Li Chunfang, Deputy Director-General of the NDRC’s Industrial Development Department, stated that the commission will collaborate with relevant departments to implement actions aimed at expanding and enhancing the service sector. This includes supporting the orderly flow of private capital into high-value service industries, using pilot reforms as a lever to establish exemplary models of transformation and upgrading, and guiding various market entities in building productive service brands. Overall, during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, China’s productive services sector offers vast development opportunities, and private capital has significant potential to contribute.
Since its establishment, the NDRC’s Bureau for the Development of the Private Sector has consistently engaged in regular communication and exchanges with private enterprises, strengthened investment services for private businesses, effectively addressed practical challenges, and made every effort to promote the development of private investment.
Ling Zhongguo, Deputy Director-General of the NDRC’s Bureau for the Development of the Private Sector, emphasized that efforts will continue to provide investment services for private enterprises, steadily improve channels for private investment, actively help resolve practical difficulties, and support private enterprises in expanding effective investment. On one hand, the commission will further uphold and refine the regular communication mechanism between the government and enterprises to stay informed about current conditions. On the other hand, it will enhance coordination, vigorously advance the implementation of laws promoting the private economy, leverage existing mechanisms and platforms, intensify efforts to resolve issues related to private investment, and fully promote the high-quality development of private investment.
Data-driven empowerment of industrial digital transformation has opened up new investment opportunities. The “Several Measures” explicitly support leading private enterprises, supply chain core enterprises, and third-party service providers in building comprehensive digital empowerment platforms. They also emphasize the deep implementation of special initiatives for the digital empowerment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and support more private SMEs in accelerating their digital transformation and upgrading.
“Moving forward, we will focus on implementing the ‘Several Measures’ and leverage the significant potential and strong driving force of effective investment in the digital economy sector to further stimulate enterprises’ internal motivation for transformation and expand new investment demands,” said Lu Dongsen, Deputy Director-General of the Digital Economy Department of the National Data Administration. He added that the administration will advance major digital transformation projects, improve key protocols and standards for data infrastructure, and address challenges such as enterprises having data but insufficient funds or technology providers lacking deep industry understanding. By exploring new models like contract data services, where benefits from digital transformation are shared as per agreements, and by jointly identifying application pathways and agreeing on profit-sharing post-transformation, digital transformation services can evolve into value co-creation. This approach will cultivate a group of specialized service providers engaged in data governance and digital transformation.
In April this year, the National Energy Administration introduced ten measures to support the development and growth of the private economy in the energy sector, rolling out a package of policies to promote the expansion and strengthening of private-sector participation in energy.
Xu Xin, Deputy Director-General of the Legal and Institutional Reform Department of the National Energy Administration, stated that the administration will further enhance policy incentives to attract private capital into the energy sector, improve long-term mechanisms for private enterprises to participate in major projects such as nuclear power, hydropower, and cross-provincial/regional HVDC transmission lines, study equity share ratios, refine specific requirements, and effectively implement the “Several Measures.”
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in the infrastructure sector represent an important approach to effectively revitalize existing infrastructure assets through public markets and serve as a key vehicle for integrating the real economy with capital markets. The “Several Measures” explicitly encourage active support for more eligible private investment projects to issue infrastructure REITs.
Guan Peng noted that, as of now, the NDRC has recommended 18 private investment projects to the China Securities Regulatory Commission, of which 14 have already been issued and listed, with a total fund-raising scale of nearly 30 billion yuan. Going forward, the NDRC will strengthen coordination with the CSRC and, on the premise of strictly preventing risks and ensuring quality, support more eligible private investment projects in issuing and listing REITs, further broadening financing channels for private enterprises and promoting the formation of a virtuous cycle between investment and financing.
