South China's Guangdong Province saw the added value of the private sector increase 7.8 percent year on year, reaching nearly 4.26 trillion yuan (620 billion U.S. dollars).
Statistics from the provincial statistics bureau showed that Guangdong's private sector made up 53.6 percent of its GDP last year, up 0.2 percentage point over 2015, and up 3.9 percentage points from 2010.
In addition, the private sector contributed 55.5 percent to the province's GDP growth, which was 7.5 percent in 2016, up 1.3 percentage points than 2015.
The Pearl River Delta achieved 3.15 trillion yuan in added value of the private sector last year, accounting for 72.5 percent of the province's total.
The private sector has spearheaded the growth of Guangdong's economy, according to the bureau.
