China Says State Firm Profits Fell Last Year

Profit at China’s top state-owned companies fell 30 percent last year, hurt by the global financial crisis, but assets have increased.

The 141 banks, airlines, oil producers and other companies controlled by the central government reported net profit of 696.18 billion yuan ($102 billion) last year, down 30.8 percent from the previous year, the official Xinhua News Agency said Sunday.

The report cited the Cabinet’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission as saying the assets of the companies grew for the fifth consecutive year since 2004 and were worth 5.56 trillion yuan ($814 billion) at the end of last year, up 8.6 percent from the previous year.

SASAC owns China’s biggest, most prominent companies, including China National Petroleum Corp., China Mobile Ltd., Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., China Life Insurance Ltd. and Air China Ltd.

Beijing’s 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus helped to accelerate second-quarter economic growth to 7.9 percent over a year earlier, up from the previous quarter’s 6.1 percent expansion.

State-owned companies have received a big share of the stimulus, which is meant to reduce reliance on exports by boosting domestic demand through higher spending on construction of highways and other public works.

9/20/2009 12:52 AM BEIJING (AP)