SASAC charts higher growth target for SOEs

Centrally administered State-owned enterprises will strive to achieve a profit growth target higher than the national GDP this year and realize better results, said the country's top State assets regulator.

Zhang Yuzhuo, chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, or SASAC, of the State Council, said the government will ensure debt-to-asset ratios remain stable, while further increasing R&D investment intensity, overall labor productivity and operating cash ratio for central SOEs this year.

In a news conference in Beijing on Thursday, Zhang said SASAC will solidly enhance SOEs' quality and efficiency and stabilize growth while accelerating the pace of constructing world-class enterprises in all respects.

The government will also carry out a new round of actions to deepen and enhance SOE reforms while intensifying efforts to promote scientific and technological innovation, he said.

SASAC said operating revenue of central SOEs registered 39.6 trillion yuan ($5.75 trillion) last year, up 9.1 percent year-on-year, while total profits reached 2.6 trillion yuan, up 6.2 percent.

Per capita overall labor productivity was 763,000 yuan, up 8.7 percent year-on-year and taxes and fees paid by central SOEs reached 2.8 trillion yuan, up 19.3 percent, it said.

SOEs have always played their due role as the backbone and cornerstone for stabilizing the economy and society, said Pan Helin, co-director of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center at Zhejiang University's International Business School.

Pan said SOEs should continue pursuing quality and efficiency while further investing in technology and innovation to stabilize the national economy.

He also suggested the government come up with more detailed plans in various sectors to secure a sound operation of central SOEs.

Over the past 10 years, the quality and efficiency of central SOEs have been comprehensively improved. Total assets rose from 31.4 trillion yuan to 81 trillion yuan, and total profit rose from 1.3 trillion yuan to 2.6 trillion yuan, according to the commission.

The profit margin of operating revenue was 6.8 percent, up 1.8 percentage points year-on-year. Per capita overall labor productivity was 763,000 yuan, up by 84.2 percent, it said.