SOEs show promising prospects for 2018: Official

The beginning of 2018 witnessed satisfying business performances presented by China's State-owned enterprises, including central SOEs, which demonstrates a promising prospect for the whole year, the head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said on Saturday.

"During January and February, total revenues of central SOEs hit 4.1 trillion yuan ($648 billion), up 10.9 percent over the same period last year, and their profits reached 266.7 billion yuan, up 22.6 percent year-on-year. The figures are good signs showing a promising whole year," said Xiao Yaqing, head of the SASAC, at a press conference.

Xiao noted that this year SOEs will step up efforts to pursue steady growth while focusing more on quality and corporate performance. Central SOEs should focus on their core businesses and shoulder more responsibilities for key and strategic projects, Xiao said.

"In terms of supervision, we will have a strict assessment system to push those enterprises to achieve their annual goals," Xiao said.

According to Xiao, in 2017, SOEs had just handed in the best performance for the past five years. Total sales revenues from SOEs reached 50 trillion yuan, growing 14.7 percent on a year-on-year basis, and profits surged 23.5 percent to 2.9 trillion yuan.

Meanwhile, major projects, that are mostly constructed by SOEs, made great progress.

"Led by these enterprises, numerous innovative projects, such as major aerospace projects, have also come to fruition with positive outcomes," Xiao said.