Central SOEs see investment rise

China's centrally administered State-owned enterprises have expanded effective investment in the first two months, said the country's top State assets regulator. During the January-February period, total investment — excluding real estate — by China's central SOEs rose 5.6 percent from a year ago to 350 billion yuan ($50.89 billion), according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. More than 900 key investment projects are currently under construction or planned by central SOEs for 2023, covering major projects listed in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and other national plans.

PBOC adds liquidity via reverse repos

China's central bank injected funds into the financial system through open market operations on Thursday. The People's Bank of China said on its website that it has conducted 239 billion yuan ($34.7 billion) of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 2 percent. The move is aimed at keeping liquidity stable in the banking system at the end of this quarter, according to the central bank. A reverse repo is a process by which the central bank purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future.

Mengniu reports net profit higher in 2022

Chinese dairy giant Inner Mongolia Mengniu Dairy (Group) Co Ltd said that its net profit reached 5.4 billion yuan ($783.9 million) in 2022, marking an annual increase of 11.6 percent. In 2022, Mengniu's revenue totaled 92.59 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.1 percent, the company said in its annual report. The company's revenue from its ice cream business surged 33.3 percent from the previous year.