Debt levels of China's state-owned......>

CHINA PRESS: Debt levels of China's state-owned companies (SOEs) are still high

and need to be further reduced, Economic Information Daily reported Friday

citing Zhou Jianqi, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State

Council. Zhou commented on a circular by the cabinet which asked to further

reduce SOEs' debt levels by average 2 percentage points by the end of 2020. At

the end of July, SOEs debt-to-asset ratio was 64.93%, only a slight 0.8

percentage point decline from 65.73% a year ago, the newspaper said citing data

by the Ministry of Finance. The circular also called for closer monitoring of

companies, and will restrict their investment and spending, the daily said.