BEIJING - The debt-to-asset ratio of China's centrally-administered State-owned enterprises (SOEs) continued to head downward in 2020, achieving the country's deleveraging target for SOEs, official data showed Tuesday.

By the end of last year, the average debt-to-asset ratio of central SOEs stood at 64.5 percent, down 0.5 percentage points from the previous year, Peng Huagang, spokesperson for the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, told a press conference.

The solvency of the companies was improved with a better debt structure, Peng said.

China has set a timetable for SOE deleveraging as part of its efforts to defuse financial risks. The average debt-to-asset ratio of SOEs should be reduced by 2 percentage points by the end of 2020 compared with that at the end of 2017, according to guidelines released in September 2018.