Profits of Chinese State-owned Enterprises up 9.8 pct in 2009

Combined profits of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) grew 9.8 percent last year to 1.34 trillion yuan (196 billion U.S. dollars), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Tuesday.

Business revenue of the SOEs grew 5.9 percent year on year to 22.5 trillion yuan, the ministry said in a statement.

SOEs directly controlled by the central government reported a year-on-year profit growth of 10.3 percent in 2009, totaling 944.5 billion yuan. Profits of local SOEs grew 8.4 percent to 394.7 billion yuan.

The figures for December alone were not given in the MOF statement, but it said profits of SOEs were 23.8 percent higher compared with December, while business revenue was up 16.3 percent month on month.

In 2008, China's SOEs experienced a steep 25.2 percent drop in profits, as the impact of the global financial crisis started to weigh on the country's economy with falling enterprise output and profitability.

The SOEs covered by the ministry statistics included 130 enterprises administered by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (on behalf of the central government), enterprises affiliated to 82 central departments, and those administered by provincial, regional and municipal governments, but excluded state-owned financial institutions.