China’s state-owned enterprises’ profits rise 0.4% in 2024

China’s state-owned enterprises’ profits rose 0.4% in 2024 from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said. That compares with a 7.4% rise in profits for state-owned enterprises in 2023.

The announcement comes amid slowing economic growth in China in 2024, as the country faces several challenges, most notably a slowdown in the real estate sector, a decline in domestic demand, and the impact of geopolitical and trade tensions with the United States and other countries.

The Chinese economy has seen a slowdown in growth in recent years, affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the repercussions of strict policies to combat the virus, in addition to government efforts to restructure the economy away from excessive reliance on real estate investment and towards boosting domestic consumption and technological innovation.

The data indicates that the slight increase in state-owned enterprises’ profits by 0.4% reflects the ongoing challenges facing these companies, including rising operating costs, declining global demand for Chinese exports, and slowing industrial production growth.