China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) saw solid growth in net profits in 2021 despite lingering impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, showed official data Wednesday.

Net profits of central SOEs went up 29.8 percent from a year ago to hit 1.8 trillion yuan (about 282.81 billion U.S. dollars) last year. It showed an average two-year growth rate of 15.3 percent, said the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council.

The central SOEs raked in 36.3 trillion yuan in combined revenues in 2021, an increase of 19.5 percent year on year, SASAC spokesperson Peng Huagang said at the press conference.

Wednesday's data also showed that central SOEs spent more on research and development (R&D) in 2021 to boost innovation-driven development, the SASAC said. Their R&D input expanded 16.1 percent year on year to 904.59 billion yuan.

The overall solvency of central SOEs remained stable. At the end of December, the average debt-to-asset ratio of China's central SOEs came in at 64.9 percent.  

Security forces kill 15 al-Shabab extremists In the coastal region of Kenya

Turkey, Serbia agree to bring together 3 ethnic leaders to resolve the Bosnian crisis

A dead Ethiopian man has been found in South Korean river