Premier Li Keqiang asked to further relax market access for private investment at a State Council executive meeting on May 4.

Private investment is the most important support for stable economic growth, structural adjustment and employment promotion. “Stable employment will help stabilize the economy and society, so we should take measures to implement policies to increase private investment,” the Premier said.

To better carry out the policies, the meeting decided to send out a group to conduct a one-month examination on the implementation of 39 State Council documents released in 2014, which were aimed at encouraging social investment in key innovation sectors.

In recent years, private investment took up more than 60 percent of the total fixed-asset investment, contributed more than 60 percent to gross domestic product and provided over 80 percent of the country’s total employment opportunities.

However, there were concerns because the country’s private investment rose in the first quarter by only 5.7 percent, down by 7.9 percentage points from the same period last year.

The problem is that entrepreneurs do not know how to invest their money due to lack of smooth channels, said the Premier, adding that the investigation group must conduct careful research and help to solve the problem of declines in private investment growth speed.

He stressed that after the examination group completed their review, the government should improve investment policies, encourage financial institutions to be supportive and treat private and public enterprises the same. In addition, private capital can be guided into the agricultural industry to help stimulate innovation and facilitate structural adjustment.

Premier Li asked the supervision group to enhance work efficiency and make suggestions for private investment as soon as possible.

The meeting also said the entrepreneur spirit should be encouraged to stimulate the potential and innovative vitality of private investment. “Entrepreneur spirit is the key for innovation. Today’s micro enterprise could grow into a big one, and innovators today could also be successful entrepreneurs in the future,” said the Premier.