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Small, Medium Enterprises Generate Half of GDP

The output of small- and medium-sized enterprises in China accounted for more than half of the country's total gross domestic product (GDP) by 2004, the Beijing Daily reported on August 1.

The State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) in late July released an index on China's small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEI) for the first time, saying that the products and services provided by SMEI in some provinces accounted for more than 70 percent of local GDPs.

Of all the 219,463 industrial enterprises in the country, 217,409, or 99 percent, are small- or medium-sized enterprises, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). NBS figures indicate that the sales values of these small- and medium-sized enterprises, which hire 78.1 percent of the country's employees, was 64 percent of values generated by all major enterprises in China.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises provide 60 percent of China's exports and 40 percent of its tax revenues, a SDRC official said. More than 95 percent of the small- and medium-sized enterprises have their own brands, though 54.69 percent have not used e-commerce, SDRC figures show.

Still, the SDRC said, in the first half of 2004, small- and medium-sized enterprises invested only 20.85 percent of their incomes into research and development, harming their potential for long-term survival and development.