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Profits of SOEs likely to fall by 30% in 2008

By Wang Bo (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-01-05 19:32

The combined profit of China's major State-owned enterprises (SOEs) is likely to fall by 30 percent year-on-year in 2008, the first decline in six years, said Huang Shuhe, deputy head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) on Monday.

The 143 SOEs directly controlled by the SASAC is expected to report a total profit of 700 billion yuan ($102.19 billion) for 2008, well below the profit of almost 1 trillion yuan in 2007, according to Huang.

The sharp decline in SOE profits last year is largely due to natural disasters including the severe storms last spring, the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan and Gansu provinces, and the government's price control policies regarding oil products and electricity, Huang said.