Employees work at the workshop of Harbin Electric Machinery Company Limited in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang province, March 9, 2020. (WANG JIANWEI / XINHUA)

BEIJING — Profits at China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) fell 63 percent year on year in the first four months of 2020, official data showed.

This came after a decline of 59.7 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to data from the Ministry of Finance

This came after a decline of 59.7 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to data from the Ministry of Finance.

Total profits at the SOEs stood at 412.01 billion yuan (US$57.79 billion) during the January-April period.

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SOEs have generated combined revenue of 17.03 trillion yuan during the period, down 9.2 percent from a year earlier, and its operating costs saw a 6.2-percent fall to 16.92 trillion yuan, the ministry said.

SOEs' debt-to-asset ratio edged up to 64.6 percent at the end of April, compared with 64.5 percent at the end of March.  

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