Chinese private enterprises have emerged from the doldrums of the global economic slowdown, according to the country's first private business prosperity index released Saturday.

The Zhejiang Private Enterprises Prosperity Index (ZEPI), issued by the industry and commerce bureau in east China's Zhejiang Province, put the comprehensive status of the private sector in the third quarter at 121.25 points, based on the benchmark of 100 points for the last quarter of 2007.

The index compiled from official statistics and a survey of 1,644 private companies in the province suggested the worst time appeared in the first quarter of 2009, when the index was at 89.46 points.

Yao Jun, statistics official with the bureau, said the ZEPI had been continuously rising since then.

Zhejiang with 82 percent of its 781,969 registered firms privately owned has one of the country's most vibrant private economic sectors.

During the global economic slowdown in 2008 and 2009, thousands of private firms in Zhejiang closed. However, the number of new registered firms exceeded 86,200 in the first 11 months this year.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2010)