China says first-quarter profits at centrally-owned firms up 13.1%

Wednesday, 17 April 2019 00:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

BEIJING (Reuters): Profits at China’s centrally-held State firms rose 13.1% in the first quarter this year to 426.5 billion yuan ($63.57 billion) from a year ago, the country’s State assets regulator said on Tuesday. That was slower than the 20.9% growth in earnings for the first quarter last year and the 16.7% increase for the whole of 2018.

For March, profits increased by 10.8% on-year, slowing from the January-February gain of 15.3%, according to a statement issued by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) ahead of a regular briefing.

Fixed-asset investments at petroleum and petrochemical companies surged 39.3% in the first quarter, said SASAC spokesman Peng Huagang, adding that investments in steel, coal sectors were on the decline.

The world’s second-largest economy is growing at its weakest pace in almost three decades amid weaker domestic demand and a months-long trade war with the United States. Multi-year campaigns to curb debt risks and pollution have also deterred fresh investment.

In response, the government has lowered its economic target to between 6% and 6.5% this year, from around 6.5% last year, while rolling out massive tax cuts worth nearly two trillion yuan.

To bankroll the tax cuts and support fiscal revenue, Beijing has said the Government would collect more profits from certain State-owned financial institutions and centrally-owned firms.