China Squeezes State Firms More Than Ever to Ease Budget Strains

China is increasingly clawing back profits from state companies to cover some of the government’s spending needs, drawing on them more than ever during a year that saw an almost unprecedented decline in budget revenue.

The money sourced from state-owned enterprises, or SOEs, and moved to the general public budget topped 574 billion yuan ($83 billion) in 2025, or almost 12 times as much as a decade earlier. That amount far exceeded what China earned from stamp duty.