China Economy: Profits of China's state-owned enterprises surged by 19.4% in Q1

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Total net profits for China's state-owned enterprises in the first quarter of the year increased by 19.4%, reaching nearly 400 billion yuan, according to the latest data released by the country's State Council on Monday.

In March alone, growth reached nearly 170 billion yuan, a new monthly high, with a year-on-year increase of 17.8 percent. In the first three months of 2018, major growth was seen in industrial enterprises, with profits hitting over 200 billion yuan, accounting for almost 70 percent of total earnings. Total revenue was up 8.7 percent year-on-year, coming in at 6.4 trillion yuan.

Meanwhile, fixed-asset investments also experienced growth for the third consecutive month, with most of that going into transportation and new energy developments. A slight decline was reported for debt related to asset management, with the government pledging to further cut excess supply, and control high-risk investments through more market access.

PENG HUAGANG, DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL STATE-OWNED ASSET SUPERVISION & MANAGEMENT COMMISSION "Total debt-to-asset ratio in the first quarter dropped by 0.4 percentage points. We will increase efforts to clear out excess supply and achieve deleveraging goals through equity reforms and impose stricter control on high-risk investments to minimize further losses."