BEIJING — Profits of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) grew steadily in the first five months of 2019, official data showed on June 21.

The combined profits of China’s SOEs rose 8.7 percent year-on-year to 1.39 trillion yuan (about $203 billion) for the January-May period, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on its website.

Total revenues reached 23.77 trillion yuan during the period, up 7.7 percent from a year earlier.

By the end of May, total SOE assets had reached 192.9 trillion yuan, up 8.8 percent year-on-year, while their liabilities went up 8.5 percent to 124.4 trillion yuan.

The debt-to-asset ratio of the SOEs went down 0.2 percentage points to 64.5 percent, according to the MOF.

China has been advancing SOE reforms, including mixed-ownership reform and corporate reform, to inject vitality to a large number of previously underperforming enterprises.