Goal of SOE Reform AchievedA senior Chinese official said in Beijing Wednesday that China has by far basically attained its three-year goal of reforming its state-owned enterprises (SOEs), with 4,098 of the 6,599 major large and medium-sized SOEs becoming profit-making.This is the key point of a report by Sheng Huaren, minister in charge of the State Economic and Trade Commission, to the ongoing 19th session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) on the SOE reform. China's state-owned and state-holding industrial enterprises registered a profit of 183.9 billion yuan (US$22.1 billion) in the first ten months this year, an increase of 160 percent from the corresponding period last year, he said. Their total profits are expected to hit 230 billion yuan (US$27.8 billion) this year, which means an increase of 130 percent on an annual basis. These enterprises already achieved a 90-percent growth in profit last year. So far, Sheng noted, 12 of the country's 14 key industries have become profitable and 4,098 of the 6,599 major SOEs have eliminated deficits. China set in 1997 a target to lift the majority of large and medium-sized SOEs out of difficulties in three years. Moreover, Sheng said, a modern enterprise system has been established in most of the key large and medium-sized SOEs, and the performance of small SOEs have also improved markedly with such reform measures as reorganization, merger, leasing and contracted management. Statistics show that small SOEs as a whole made a profit of 994 million yuan (US$120 million) in the first ten months of this year. Sheng attributed the achievements to a number of policies and measures including restructuring, technological innovation, and the debt-for-share swap program designed to free key SOEs from debt burdens. The NPC Standing Committee will review Sheng's report and several other reports Thursday. |
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