THE list of 2017’s top 100 private enterprises in Guangdong Province was announced by the Guangdong Federation of Industry and Commerce on Tuesday.

Nine private enterprises had an annual revenue of over 100 billion yuan (US$15.2 billion), including Huawei, Amer International Group, Vanke, Evergrande, Midea, Cedar Holdings, Country Garden, TCL, and BYD, two more enterprises compared with last year.

Seventy-two private enterprises on the list had annual revenue of over 10 billion yuan, an increase of 16 since the previous year. In addition, 60 enterprises on the list have made it onto the list of 2017 top 500 private enterprises in China.

Statistics showed that the added value of Guangdong’s private economy exceeded 4 trillion yuan in 2016, an increase of 7.8 percent over the same period in the previous year and 0.3 percent higher than the province’s GDP growth according to comparable prices.

Shenzhen is home to 40 enterprises on the list, holding a safe lead among all the cities. Guangzhou and Foshan ranked 2nd and 3rd, with 23 and 15 enterprises respectively.

The private economy accounted for 53.6 percent of GDP last year, up 0.2 percent compared with the previous year and 3.9 percent higher than in 2010. The contribution to the growth rate of GDP was 55.5 percent, a 1.3-percent increase year on year, speeding up the GDP growth rate by 4.2 percent.

Private economy plays a prominent role in Guangdong’s economy. Experts believe that the increase in the indicators of private economy in Guangdong last year were better than the State-owned and collective economies as well as the national average, indicating the growing role and status of the private economy as the main driving force in Guangdong’s growth.

According to a report released by the All China Federation of Industry and Commerce, the top 500 private enterprises in 2016 upgraded significantly. A total of 77.6 percent of enterprises have accelerated the progress of upgrading, an increase of 75 percent since the previous year.

Enterprises from the manufacturing sector still occupied an important proportion at 51 places on the list.

(Zhang Yu)