PROFITS earned by Chinese industrial firms in March rose 11.1 percent from a year earlier to 561.24 billion yuan (US$86.52 billion), the statistics bureau said yesterday.

    Profits rose 7.4 percent in the first three months of the year compared with the same period a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on its website.

    Chinese industrial firms’ debt at the end of March was 5.2 percent higher than at the same point last year.

    Industrial profits in the January-February period rose 4.8 percent from a year earlier, snapping a seven-month losing steak.

    The data covers large enterprises with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan from their main operations.

    China’s economy grew at its slowest pace in seven years in the first quarter. But consumer, investment and factory data have pointed to nascent signs that the slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy may be bottoming out.(SD-Agencies)