China will accelerate the fully listing of its eligible
centrally administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or their main
businesses in three years, said Li Rongrong, minister in charge of
the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission
(SASAC) on Friday.
Li's comment showed persistent government support for the
listing of central SOEs, although an SASAC statement denied market
rumors in mid October of a government plan to fully list 30 central
SOEs before 2010.
Most SOEs in oil and chemicals, telecommunications,
transportation and metallurgy industries have been fully listed in
recent years, said Li at an SOE performance evaluation meeting.
In 2006, the total assets of central SOEs hit 12.2 trillion
yuan, up 46.5 percent from the figure in 2003. Their revenue stood
at 8.3 trillion yuan, up by 85.3 percent.
The assets regulator, set up in 2003 to take control of big
state companies, has been cutting the number of major SOEs by
promoting mergers and acquisitions and allowing poorly performing
state firms to go bankrupt.(US$1 equals to 7.46 yuan)
(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2007)
