Business revenue of companies controlled by China's central government dropped 7.4% in the first five months over the same period last year, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Monday.

Business revenue of China's State-owned enterprises (SOEs) stood at 7.76 trillion yuan ($1.14 trillion) in the first five months of 2009, with profits at 425.4 billion yuan ($62.49 billion), down 30.3% year-on-year.

The rate of decline in profits was two percentage points lower than the January-April figure.

The fall in SOE profits was at a slower pace, as the stimulus package showed positive effects on their performance,SOE's watchdog said in a statement.

The firms include the SOEs directly controlled by the central government and other SOEs supervised by local governments, but exclude State-owned financial enterprises.

($1=6.80701754 yuan)

China