SOEs told to keep profit growth over 10 pct

China's State-owned enterprise watchdog is urging SOEs to take responsibility for "maintaining growth" by keeping profit growth rates over 10 percent.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration of the State Council said on its website that the authority held a video conference on Tuesday in which it reviewed the general situation of the SOEs in the first quarter and set the target for the next phase.

Jiang Jiemin, head of the administration, said that the SOEs performed in a stable manner during the first quarter, in line with expectations.

China's SOEs saw their combined profits expand 7.7 percent year-on-year to 513.73 billion yuan ($82.2 billion) in the first quarter of the year, the Ministry of Finance announced last week.

Good profit growth was posted by SOEs operating in electronics, electric power, construction, pharmaceutical and the petrochemical sectors.

But some SOEs in the non-ferrous metal, construction materials, coal and chemical sectors saw profit declines.

Jiang said it is not only a significant economic mission, but also a political responsibility for the SOEs to support economic growth in China, by realizing profit growth rate higher than 10 percent.