Central SOEs see profits decline

16  January 2013

BEIJING – China’s State-owned enterprises administered by the State-asset regulator saw profits drop 6.9 percent in the first 11 months of 2012, according to official data released on Thursday.

Wang Yong, head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), said at a conference that these enterprises made total profits of 1.7 trillion yuan ($270.73 billion) during the period.

The aggregate revenue of the SOEs during the first 11 months rose 10.3 percent year-on-year to 34.2 trillion yuan, according to Wang.

In the same period, the total assets of the SOEs reached 69 trillion yuan, up 15.1 percent year-on-year.

Li Baomin, head of the SASAC’s research center, attributed the profit decline partly to rising costs and the unfavorable economic situation around the world.

In the third quarter of 2012, the country’s GDP grew by 7.4 percent year-on-year, slowing for the seventh consecutive quarter and down from 7.6 percent in the second quarter and 8.1 percent in the first, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.