Industrial profits rise 16.1% in first 2 months

Policy support to reduce costs, higher sales help boost growth

The nation's industrial profits grew significantly in the first two months of the year, thanks to policy support to lower costs and higher sales offsetting weaker price rises.

Industrial profits increased by 16.1 percent to 968.9 billion yuan ($154.6 billion) in the January-February period compared to the same period last year, up from the 10.8 percent growth in December, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday.