The private sector witnessed rapid development in Baotou, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, with added value hitting 270.73 billion yuan ($39.23 billion) during 2016, reports Baotou Daily.

The figure represented year-on-year growth of 8.4 percent, 0.8 percentage points higher than the growth rate of GDP.

The private sector accounted for 70 percent of GDP in 2016, 1.5 percentage points higher than that of 2015.

The added value of private industrial companies above a designated scale saw year-on-year growth of 15.4 percent and stood at 90.39 billion yuan in 2016, making up 72.5 percent of the total added value of industrial firms above a designated scale, 2.9 percentage points higher than 2015.

Baotou has been encouraging the development of its private sector under the guidance of policies and regulations issued by the autonomous region and the national government. Private companies can enjoy new opportunities from further reforms which will target systematic obstacles and give more influence to the market in resource distribution. The private sector has now become a new engine for economic growth in Baotou.