China's top legislators and advisers are calling for the government to beef up efforts to solve funding difficulties that affect the further expansion of private businesses, mostly small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
According to a survey conducted in East China's Zhejiang Province, which has the country's most active private economy, 45.7 per cent of respondents, all private firms, say that the biggest obstacle hampering the sound development of the private sector is difficulties in finding financing. About 66.7 per cent of the respondents believe it is "very hard" for them to get loans from financial institutions.
"State and private enterprises are not given an equal footing in obtaining bank loans," said NPC deputy Liu Weizhi. "Commercial banks 'habitually' favour State-owned firms," he said.
