Profits Plunge 58.8 Percent For China’s State-Owned Firms in First Quarter

Tourists wearing protective facemasks to help stop the spread of a deadly SARS-like virus which originated in the central city of Wuhan, look at the sunset at Jingshawn park overlooking the Forbidden City in Beijing on Jan. 25, 2020. NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images

BEIJING—Total net profits earned by enterprises owned by China’s central government plunged 58.8 percent during the first three months of 2020 from a year earlier, the state assets regulator said on Monday.

The unprecedented drop was due to profit declines in the aviation, autos, tourism, and oil industries, which were ravaged by the COVID-19 crisis, Peng Huagang, a spokesman for the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), told a news conference in Beijing.

China will make efforts to prevent state capital-invested firms from going bankrupt, reducing pay for workers and issuing layoffs, Peng added.

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