(Yicai Global) Jan. 17 -- With steady economic growth and improvement in various industries, China's 98 non-financial state-owned enterprises under the direct administration of the central government posted a total profit of CNY1.4 trillion (USD217.8 billion) last year, up 15.2 percent from a year earlier. It represents the highest profit increase rate in the past five years.

The 98 enterprises generated operating revenues of CNY26.4 trillion (USD4.1 trillion) in 2017, an increase of 13.3 percent over the same period of the previous year, showed a press release from China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission yesterday. These enterprises include China's major oil companies, telecom operators and automakers, excluding state-owned financial enterprises.

China's GDP is expected to post a 6.9 percent growth last year, China's Premier Li Keqiang revealed on Jan. 14. This means it will exceed the 6.5 percent GDP growth target set by the government work report for 2017 at the beginning of the year. Good performance of companies in petroleum and petrochemical, coal, steel and other traditional industries, as well as better than expected output in equipment manufacturing, advanced manufacturing and service industries were contributing factors for last year's economic growth.

The resource integration in coal, steel, engineering equipment, environmental protection and other fields where enterprises have advantages in their main business fields will play an important role in economic growth this year, said Xiao Yaqing, chairman and deputy secretary of the party committee of SASAC, in the press release.