CHINA’S State-owned firms’ profits fell 8.4 percent year on year in the first four months of this year, the finance ministry said.

Total profits at State firms were 652.26 billion yuan (US$99.41 billion) in the Jan.-April period while revenues fell 1.7 percent to 13.52 trillion yuan. In the first three months, profits fell 13.8 percent.

Coal, steel and nonferrous metals companies posted losses in the first four months of the year while profits at oil, chemical and building material companies fell from a year earlier, the ministry said in the statement posted on its website Tuesday.

Transportation, petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies posted relatively large profit increases.

Profits at centrally administered companies fell 6.6 percent in the first four months from a year earlier, while earnings at local government firms fell 14.2 percent.

Total debts of State-owned companies increased 18 percent to 81.91 trillion yuan with debts of centrally administered companies up 23.4 percent and local State firms up 12.2 percent.

Reforms of State-owned firms to improve efficiency are a priority for China’s leaders as growth slows in the country, and were a key plank in the country’s latest five-year plan announced in 2015.(SD-Agencies)