BEIJING — China’s State-owned assets regulator has stepped up efforts to clear the overdue debts of centrally administered State-owned enterprises (SOEs) to private companies, an official said on Feb 25.

Following requirements of the State Council, China’s cabinet, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) screened for such debts late last year and found 111.6 billion yuan ($16.6 billion) of unpaid debt to private firms, Wu Hongbing, head of the SASAC bureau of financial supervision and management, said at a press conference.

By the end of January, central SOEs had paid off all overdue wages of 820 million yuan to rural workers, and repaid 83.9 billion yuan of overdue debts to private companies, accounting for over 75 percent of the total, Wu said.

The SASAC will press central SOEs to repay all the overdue debts before June 2019, and at the same time push forward the creation of a long-term mechanism for clearing overdue debts, he added.

In November 2018, the State Council ordered to clear the debts of government departments and large SOEs to private firms, as the country moved to help solve problems of private companies to create a sound environment for their development.