(Yicai Global) Oct. 27 -- China’s central enterprises, which are directly owned by the central government, showed a strong rebound in September, after two months of slowing growth, as policies to stabilize the economy take effect.

China’s 98 central enterprises logged a 13.8 percent jump in net profit in September from the same period last year to CNY180.5 billion (USD25.1 billion), according to data released by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council of China yesterday.

In the first nine months, central enterprises reported a 4.7 percent increase in net profit from a year earlier to CNY1.6 trillion (USD222.7 billion), SASAC said. This is an improvement of 1 percentage point from the first eight months. While revenue surged 10.9 percent to CNY29 trillion (USD4 trillion) from January to September.

And central enterprises should continue to grow steadily this quarter, said Liu Xingguo, researcher at the China Enterprise Confederation, a non-governmental institute and representative organization for Chinese employers.

Their improved performance is mainly due to the overall recovery of the economy as a series of supportive policies come into play, Liu said. They are also making great efforts to enhance efficiency and reduce costs.

Central enterprises play a key role in the national economy, especially in terms of investment. Their fixed-asset investments have been growing for the past five months and last month came to CNY318.6 billion (USD44.2 billion), SASAC said. In the first nine months, the amount they invested in fixed-assets jumped 5.9 percent year on year to CNY2 trillion (USD277.7 billion).

Stable investment growth by central enterprises can deliver a positive signal to society and boost the investment confidence of other entities, Liu added.

Central enterprises have also helped private companies by cutting rents. They lowered rents for individually run businesses and small firms by CNY14.7 billion (USD2 billion) in the first three quarters, equivalent to twice the amount reduced during 2020, SASAC said.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor