Deadline set for money-losing SOEs

China has set a two-year deadline for loss-making State-owned enterprises to improve their performance, with firms that suffer losses for three straight years liable to be shut down.

"By the end of 2017, a significant drop in losses is to be expected for enterprises whose losses are incurred from operations," the State Council's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, also known as SASAC, said in a statement on Friday.

Enterprises should leave the market through asset reorganization, transfer of property rights, closure or bankruptcy if they suffer three consecutive years of losses "and their business is not in line with the direction of structural adjustment", the statement said.