China's SOEs post steady profit growth in 2019

BEIJING - Profits of Chinese State-owned enterprises (SOEs) grew 4.7 percent year-on-year in 2019 to reach about 3.6 trillion yuan ($521 billion) last year amid reform efforts, official data showed Tuesday.

Total revenues of SOEs reached 62.55 trillion yuan in 2019, up 6.9 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Finance said on its website.

Centrally-administered SOEs generated a combined profit of 2.27 trillion yuan, up 8.7 percent year-on-year.

The SOEs saw their ratio of liabilities to assets at 63.9 percent at the end of last year, down 0.2 percentage points, according to the ministry.

China took a series of measures to invigorate its SOEs in 2019, including the mixed-ownership reform and the comprehensive reform of pilot areas in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Shenyang.

A three-year action plan on the reform of SOEs is expected to be rolled out in the first quarter of 2020 to optimize the use of State-owned assets and spur innovation, according to a report of the Economic Information Daily.

Under the guideline, the mixed-ownership reform will be expanded and strategic restructuring will be strengthened in sectors including coal and electricity, steel and non-ferrous metal, said the newspaper.