Registered SMEs in China surpass 4.3 million

Li Zibin, chairman of China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises Chairman, said that the total number of SMEs registered by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has exceeded 4.3 million. The aggregate value of products and services created by SMEs accounts for 58.5% of the nation's gross domestic product.

Sources said that taxes paid by the SMEs currently contribute to 50.2% of the country's total. Patents and new products developed by SMEs accounted for 66% and 82% of the country's total respectively. SMEs' role in easing the pressure on employment has also been further enhanced.

Li said that although China's SMEs have entered a good period of development, financing difficulties, a shortage of talents, the relatively weak ability of independent innovation, and the imperfect social service system are still constraints to the development of SMEs.

As of June this year, China's five major commercial banks, namely the Industrial and the Commercial Bank of China<601398><1398>, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China<601988><3988>, the China Construction Bank<601939><939> and the Bank of Communications<601328><3328> have granted RMB 1.5 trillion worth of loans to a total of 535,900 SMEs accumulatively, RMB 20 billion or 8.3% higher than the same period last year.