SOEs to be reduced in 3 years

China's centrally administered State-owned enterprises (SOEs) will be almost halved in three years as part of a sweeping overhaul of the State sector, the Beijing-based China Times newspaper reported over the weekend.

The number of central SOEs is expected to be cut to between 50 and 60 within three years from the current 112, an unidentified source close to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) was quoted as saying in the report.

For the whole-year period in 2014, combined profits at central SOEs rose by 4.2 percent from a year earlier to 1.4 trillion yuan ($228.2 billion), SASAC statistics showed.