BEIJING - Chinese State-owned enterprises (SOEs) saw their combined profits grow at a slower pace in the first two months of 2014 amid signs of a slowing economy, new data showed on Friday.

The total profits of SOEs edged up 2.8 percent year on year to 326.54 billion yuan ($53.12 billion) in the first two months, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a statement.

The pace was lower than a 9.7-percent growth seen in the same period of last year and 5.9 percent for the whole year of 2013.

The slowdown in profit growth came amid increasing signs of a slowing Chinese economy.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the purchasing managers' index for the manufacturing sector retreated to an eight-month low in February and slowed for the third month in a row.

The growth of China's power consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, also slowed by one percentage point from a year earlier to 4.5 percent in the first two months.

The profits of centrally administered SOEs were up 3.9 percent from a year earlier to 264.27 billion yuan, while local SOEs saw their profits decline by 2 percent to 62.27 billion yuan.

Firms in the machinery, real estate, automobiles, trade and electricity sectors saw remarkable profit growth, whereas SOEs in transport, steel, non-ferrous metal and the chemical industries suffered losses, the MOF said.

Revenues rose 6.7 percent year on year to 6.98 trillion yuan and total costs increased 6.6 percent to 6.71 trillion yuan.

All firms turned in 64.34 billion yuan in taxes in the first two months, up 3.8 percent year on year.

Their total assets rose 10.8 percent to 92.31 trillion yuan at the end of last month, the statement said.

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