Chinese state industry profits drop 6.9% due to economic downturn
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BEIJING (AP) - Total profits for China's biggest state-owned companies fell 6.9 per cent in the first 11 months of 2012 as an economic slowdown deepened, the government reported on Thursday.
The squeeze even for the biggest, politically favoured Chinese companies highlighted the severity of the country's worst economic downturn since the 2008 global crisis.
Economic activity re-bounded late in the year but analysts say a recovery is still shaky and will be gradual and weak. Growth fell to 7.4 per cent in the three months ending in September and is believed to have strengthened in the final quarter.
The Cabinet agency that oversees China's 116 biggest state-owned companies said they had total profit of 1.7 trillion yuan (S$335 billion) in the year through November. Those companies include PetroChina Ltd., Bank of China Ltd., China Mobile Ltd. and other major corporate names.
