Profits made by Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) under direct supervision of the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) reached 119.6 billion yuan in the first five months of 2003, up 67.7 percent year on year.
SASAC Vice-Director Li Yizhong quoted data from the SASAC economic bulletin on Friday.
Information released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that profits made by industrial enterprises across the nation totaled 291.8 billion yuan, increasing 62.8 percent over the same period of last year.
Li said the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak seriously affected sales volume of SOEs in the travel industry, the civil aviation industry, transportation, and the commercial industry.
The affects are expected to continue for the near future.
But the national economy would maintain the planned rapid growth of over 7 percent, because the Chinese economy was increasingly qualified to counter negative impacts.
With proper efforts, profits made by SOEs would maintain relatively fast growth this year, he said.
(Xinhua News Agency June 28, 2003)
