CHINA

State Enterprises Scolded: The firms, two-thirds of which are unprofitable, grew by an average of 6.8% from 1992 to 1994 but were still plagued by poor management, the New China News Agency said. Beijing has struggled to improve state enterprises, trying to force them to sink or swim in a market economy. The news agency quoted Finance Vice Minister Zhang Youcai as saying that weak management led to higher production costs and a drop in product quality, which in turn contributed to a 21.7% inflation rate in 1994, its highest level since the 1949 Communist takeover.