A majority of Chinese enterprises deny that the Chinese economy is overheated and believe government tightening measures are efficient in cooling down selected sectors, a China Entrepreneur Survey System poll shows, China Daily reported Monday.

The 12th survey sampled 2,881 enterprises in the manufacturing, construction, transportation, telecoms, real estate and service sectors.

Some 44.2 per cent of respondents said the economy was overheating in certain sectors, almost 16 percentage points higher than the last survey. And 34.4 per cent believe the situation is normal. Only 5.5 per cent said the economy is overall heated.

China has taken steps to cool the overheated industries of steel, cement and aluminium, including raising bank reserve requirements and curbing loans to these sectors.

According to the poll, 67.3 per cent of the respondents said they believe these measures achieved their objectives.

Most of the enterprises said they had been affected by the tightening moves. More than half said it is now more difficult to get loans from banks. About 40 per cent said the government moves increased transportation costs and 36.1 per cent said it was harder to obtain land for production.

Respondents feel both government and private investments have been slowed to some extent because of the tightening measures.

About half those surveyed regard the government's present investment level as adequate, 2 percentage points lower than the last survey. About 39 per cent of the respondents regarded the private investment level as unsatisfactory, 6 percentage points higher than the last survey.

The situation of inadequate domestic consumption has been eased by the government's efforts to boost domestic demand, enterprises said.

Almost 43 per cent of respondents regard consumption as unsatisfactory, down about 3 percentage points compared to 2003. And about 77 per cent said they thought the domestic market was moving upwards.

The survey showed respondents had a strong will to invest, especially private investors. About 55 per cent of enterprises plan to increase investment, much more than the 16 per cent who plan to cut it. More than 60 per cent of the private investors are planning to increase investment and among State-owned enterprises, the number is 50 per cent.

However, some problems should be noted in economic development, including the shortage of energy, gaps in income, corruption, a worsening environment and monopoly.

And 82.3 per cent of the respondents expect the government to more quickly change its role, a key in continuing the current economic reform.

Source: China Daily