Ministry: SOE profit decline slows

Pattern 'in line' with overall economic situation, analyst says; some industries see big increases

Sliding profits in China's nonfinancial State-owned enterprises eased in the first four months of the year, data released on Wednesday by the Ministry of Finance showed.

From January to April, the profits of nonfinancial SOEs fell by 8.4 percent year-on-year to 652.2 billion yuan ($98.8 billion), compared with a decline of 13.8 percent in the first quarter this year.