Full coverage: 2017 NPC & CPPCC Sessions

BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) performed well in the first two months of 2017, with combined profits up 29.1 percent year-on-year to 168.59 billion yuan (about 24.37 billion U.S. dollars), state assets regulator said Thursday.

The country's 102 central SOEs saw revenues up 15.2 percent to 3.7 trillion yuan in the two months from the same period last year, said Xiao Yaqing, head of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session.

Xiao said the strong growth was a result of reductions in cost and management expenses, which also reflects the stabilization of the national economy.

Xiao Yaqing, head of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), Zhang Xiwu and Huang Danhua, deputy heads of the SASAC, and Peng Huagang, deputy secretary and spokesperson of the SASAC, greet journalists at a press conference on reform of state-owned enterprises for the fifth session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, capital of China, March 9, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Xin)