Government support and rapid economic growth offer "unprecedented" scope for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) to develop in China, said a senior official in Beijing Saturday.

This year, the Chinese government has for the first time allocated 50 million yuan (US$6 million) to promote the development of SMEs, said Chen Yanhai, deputy director of the SME department of the State Development and Reform Commission.

The government has decided the special fund to help implement the law on promoting SME development be one of the important items in the fiscal budget for 2004, Chen said at a forum on the development of China's SMEs.

The commission will also offer more support for SME development by formulating favorable policies and ensuring adequate funds, he said.

In the commission's institutional reform early this year, the functions of its SME department was expanded so that it is also responsible for administering and serving SMEs.

Chen said China's rapid economic growth, increasing fixed assets investment, smooth progress in key infrastructure projects and reforms, and rising consumer demand are all factors of a sound environment for SME development. The country's efforts to open wider to the outside world and further relax state monopoly in more industries also provide conditions for this purpose.

The official revealed that the commission has finished the drafting of a document for accelerating the development of the private sector. The stated major purpose of the document is to urge government departments at all levels to create a "free, fair and competitive" external environment for the development of SMEs.

In China, there are 3.02 million SMEs that produce half of the country's gross domestic product. They also contribute to 60 percent of the country's exports and 43 percent of the tax revenue.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2003)