The state-owned assets regulator is expected to reap 30 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion) from centrally administered state-owned enterprises this year which will be used to fund domestic economic restructuring, a well-informed source said yesterday.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has set up a department to manage the amount, China Securities Journal cited the source as saying.

The funds will be used to restructure the SOEs and as a boost to the domestic economy, such as investing in the country's first jumbo jet company.

The commission invested 6 billion yuan in the company to become its biggest shareholder in May.

Last year, centrally administered SOEs contributed 16 billion yuan to the commission. The SOEs earned 425.6 billion yuan in the first half of this year, a decrease of 48.99 billion yuan from a year earlier.

Some SOEs have seen their revenue fall due to a slowdown in the economy and the commission required all firms to enhance risk management, the newspaper said.

Critical sectors such as oil, petrochemicals, power, defense, telecommunications, transport and mining accounted for about 83 percent of the total assets of centrally administered SOEs.

The Chinese central government said it will encourage aggressively the nation's biggest SOEs to consolidate into fewer, larger groups to help them compete.

The commission will reduce 149 state-run enterprises to between 80 and 100 firms.

(Shanghai Daily September 11, 2008)