The private sector of the economy still does not feel free to develop although this sector has become an important force to reckon with in the Chinese economy thanks to the unswerving encouragement, support and guidance from the central authorities.

The remarks were made by Yin Mingshan, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) attending the on-going annual session.

It was reported that there are about 20,000 billion yuan non-governmental capital lying idle, failing to find its way into investment areas. It is not that the non-governmental capital lacks investment desire, but it is the institutional factor that obstructs it from entering the investment area as the threshold is too high, according some other CPPCC members.

The biggest difficulty for the private sector is capital expansion, Yin said, because the threshold for the access by the private sector is too high, just as private business owners complained "private capital is welcome to non-lucrative sectors, but barred from lucrative sectors."

In Chongqing, southwest China, private companies contributed to 42.3 percent of city's GDP in 2002, but the bank loans they got only accounted for eight percent of total.

The CPPCC members all called for a sound institutional environment for the development of the private sector and unified market access standards for all sectors of the economy. They also called for a review of the outdated laws and regulations.

The CPPCC members also attacked some authorities at the local levels for their arbitrariness in the enforcement of administrative laws and for their extortion, which have made it very unfavorable for the development of the private sector.

The policies of the central government are good but the policies have not been implemented in spirit and to the letter, they said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2004)