North China's Shanxi province hosted a provincial private economy work conference on April 9 to review and summarize the achievements of 2024 and outline key tasks for the private economy in 2025.

The meeting emphasized the need for provincial private economy departments to accurately grasp the national development trends of the private sector, identify the strengths and weaknesses of the province's private economy, and explore new paths for innovation and transformation.

In 2024, the province's private economy achieved an added value of 1.06 trillion yuan ($144.24 billion), a 1.3-percent increase from the previous year. Tax revenue from the private sector amounted to 206.66 billion yuan, accounting for 51.5 percent of total tax revenue. The province was home to 1.14 million private enterprises, making up over 90 percent of all enterprises in the province and employing more than 70 percent of its workforce.

This year, Shanxi will focus on promoting the transformation and upgrading of private enterprises. Key initiatives include cultivating leading private technology companies, upgrading industrial enterprises, restructuring small and medium-sized private enterprises, and enhancing management capabilities.

To assist enterprises in overcoming difficulties, the province will continue to improve long-term mechanisms for supporting businesses and create a favorable development environment. Measures to enhance government services will be implemented, and a multi-channel, regular communication mechanism between the government and enterprises will be established to promptly collect and address the concerns of enterprises.

Furthermore, Shanxi will enforce mechanisms to resolve payment arrears, helping private enterprises tackle issues related to overdue payments and safeguarding their legal rights.