BEIJING - China is rolling out a series of measures to boost the development of its private sector, officials said at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on Thursday.

The newly passed private sector promotion law reinforces development certainty through legal stability, offering reassurance to private enterprises as they pursue growth with greater confidence, Zheng Bei, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said at the press conference.

In terms of ensuring fair participation in market competition, the law stipulates that China will implement a unified nationwide negative list system for market access, Zheng added.

Regarding equal access to factors of production, the law mandates that private economic entities are guaranteed equal rights to utilize capital, technology, human resources, data, land, and public service resources in accordance with the law, ensuring a level playing field for all stakeholders, Zheng noted.

According to Zheng, the NDRC has launched a series of flagship projects across sectors such as nuclear power and railways. Private capital holds a 20 percent stake in certain nuclear power projects, while in areas like industrial equipment renewal and resource recycling and reuse, private enterprises contribute over 80 percent of the investment, he explained.

Zheng revealed that this year, premium projects worth approximately 3 trillion yuan ($416.2 billion) will be launched across sectors such as transportation, energy, water conservancy, and new types of infrastructure.

From January to April this year, the bid-winning rate for private enterprises increased by 5 percentage points compared to the same period last year, Zheng said, adding that for projects under 100 million yuan, private enterprises accounted for over 80 percent of the total bid-winning number.

Addressing the presser, Cong Lin, deputy head of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, said that loans from banking financial institutions to private enterprises have maintained steady growth.

Over the past five years, loans to private enterprises have grown at an average annual rate of 1.1 percentage points higher than the overall loan growth rate across all categories, according to Cong.

As of the end of the first quarter this year, the outstanding balance of loans to private enterprises reached 76.07 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.41 percent, Cong said, adding that the outstanding balance of inclusive financing loans for small and micro enterprises stood at 35.3 trillion yuan, up 12.5 percent year-on-year.

The law, which will take effect on May 20 this year, stipulates that the promotion of the sustainable, healthy and high-quality development of the private economy is a significant and long-term policy of China.