Chinese state enterprises post record level of profits in 2017
Highest total earnings for state firms posted last year, according to Communist Party newspaper the People’s Daily
Total profit at enterprises owned by China’s central government rose 15.2 per cent in 2017 to 1.4 trillion yuan (US$217.5 billion), state media reported, citing figures released at a government conference.
The total profit was the highest ever, the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily said, while the rate of growth was the highest in five years, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.
The profit figures vindicate plans the Chinese government announced in 2015 to overhaul its lumbering and debt-ridden state sector, launching a radical reform programme designed to make state-owned enterprises (SOEs) more profitable and responsive to the market.
Xinhua said operating revenue for central government-owned enterprises rose 13.3 per cent last year to 26.4 trillion yuan. Total assets reached 54.5 trillion yuan by the end of last year, People’s Daily said, an increase of 7.9 per cent versus 2016.
China has already cut the number of enterprises administered by the central government to 98 from 117 in 2012 through a series of high-profile mergers and acquisitions.
The remaining state-owned companies have been under pressure to improve their management to attract private capital.