China's private firms contribute more than 50 percent of the country's GDP, the Securities Daily reported Thursday, citing a senior official.

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Private investment accounted for 57.7 percent of the country's total investment in the first four months of this year, with State-own and State-controlled investment taking 35.1 percent of the total, according to Huang Mengfu, chairman of the All-China Industry and Commerce Federation.

Compared with the average level from 2003 to 2010, private investment from January to April in 2011 grew 22.5 percentage points, whilst governmental investment dropped 8.3 percentage points, said Huang, who is also vice-chairman of the 11th CPPCC.

There are more than 40 million small- and medium-sized enterprises in China, and the number is expected to surpass 50 million by 2012, the paper said, citing unnamed source.