Whole-year profits of industrial companies stumble

Chinese full-year industrial profit dropped by 2.3 percent last year, raising the risk of a rash of debt defaults amid a weaker economic growth outlook.

In December, the total profit of industrial companies fell by 4.7 percent from a year earlier, after undergoing a 1.4 percent year-on-year decline in November, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

The last time a full-year profit drop was recorded was 18 years ago, when annual profit plummeted by 17 percent amid the Asian financial crisis.