Entrepreneurs in traditional sectors hope China’s next plan will help relieve pressures from low demand, price wars and regulatory scrutiny
As China drafts its 15th five-year plan – the next entry in a line of expansive blueprints that have set the tone for the country’s development over more than seven decades – we examine how these documents inform and reflect high-level policy priorities, what to expect in the coming iteration and whether the private sector will receive the level of support entrepreneurs are hoping for.
For officials in Beijing, this year is a time of fresh starts. Work has begun on drafting the next five-year plan, a foundational document summarising China’s development goals through the coming half-decade.
But many of the country’s entrepreneurs may be entering the new cycle with a sense of fatigue – their confidence has been drained by years of sluggish demand, vicious price wars and unexpected administrative penalties.
Though the government has launched a barrage of measures intended to make life easier for private businesses, more than 60 per cent of them still describe the climate as “difficult”, and many industries could soon face a “wave of bankruptcies” if conditions do not improve, according to a recent report by independent research firm Beijing Dacheng.
