Profit at Chinese state industry rises with virus recovery
Profit at state-owned companies that dominate China’s banking, oil and most other industries rose by as much as 25% last year as the country recovered from the coronavirus pandemic, the government said Tuesday.
Total revenue for nationallevel companies rose 2.2% over 2019 to 30.3 trillion yuan ($4.7 trillion), according to Peng Huagang, secretary general of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. Speaking at a news conference, Peng said profit rose 2.1% to 1.4 trillion yuan ($215 billion).
The ruling Communist Party has built up such “national champions” over the past two decades, but their monopolies and multibillion-dollar subsidies prompt complaints by the public that they are a waste of money and gouge consumers with high prices.
Peng’s agency oversees 97 companies directly under the Cabinet including PetroChina Ltd, Asia’s biggest oil producer; China Mobile Ltd., the world’s biggest phone carrier by number of subscribers, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd, the world’s biggest bank by assets.
SASAC companies also dominate air travel, insurance, securities, shipping, internet access, power generation, construction, nuclear power technology and coal and steel production.
Chinese industries benefited from the economy’s relatively early reopening starting in March after the ruling party declared victory over the virus that emerged in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019. (AP)