China’s central state-owned enterprises (SOE’s) posted a modest decline in their debt-asset ratios in the first half of 2018 amidst Beijing’s ongoing deleveraging campaign.
The average debt-asset ratio of China’s central SOE’s was 66% as of the end of June, for a fall of 0.3 percentage points compared to the start of 2018 according to figures from the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).
“The decline indicates a stronger ability for companies to forestall risk” said SASAC spokesperson Peng Huagang.
According to Peng the first half of 2018 also saw the value of new market-based debt-to-equity swap initiatives for central SOE’s hit 20.2 billion yuan (approximately USD$3 billion).
Beijing highlighted SOE’s as the “priority of priorities” for its ongoing deleveraging campaign in August of last year, while President Xi Jinping recently called for stronger curbs on their debt levels.
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