THE government will promote asset restructuring in sectors like coal, telecommunications, electric power, manufacturing and chemicals this year, domestic media reported Tuesday, as it begins the latest round of its State firms’ reform program.

Regulators would continue to promote the “concentration of State-owned capital” in major strategic industries, resolve excess capacity and set up a special fund aimed at optimizing and integrating government-owned coal assets, the China Securities Journal reported.

China began a new round of reforms in 2016 aimed at streamlining its State-owned enterprises (SOEs) by introducing private capital, curbing overcapacity, shutting down “zombie” subsidiaries and restructuring assets. It has already cut the total number of companies under Central Government control to 96, down from 117 in 2012.

China’s State asset regulator will also use the next round of restructuring to transform leading companies into “development platforms” for sectors like new energy vehicles, large-scale cruise ships and China’s satellite navigation technology known as “Beidou,” the paper said.

The State-Owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) would also continue to promote its “mixed ownership reform” program aimed at introducing private capital and management methods into giant Central Government SOEs.

China has already injected as much as 88 billion yuan (US$13.18 billion) of private capital into its State firms in the first half of the year, the newspaper said, and the country would aim to diversify the stakeholder structures of two to three Central Government enterprises in the second half of the year.

Six of China’s biggest State-owned firms have drawn up plans to reduce debt and leverage in the coming two years.

The firms are Sinopec, Huaneng, Huadian, as well as China Railway Construction Corp., China State Construction Engineering Corp. and China Merchants Group. The SASAC itself was also preparing to release its “work plan” to control debt ratios at the 96 firms now under its jurisdiction.

SASAC chairman Xiao Yaqing told a meeting of executives earlier this month that firms needed to adjust investment structures, slash excess capacity and improve cash flow management in order to achieve the goal.

Debt to asset ratios among Central Government enterprises stood at an average of 66 percent by the end of June, down 0.3 percentage points since the beginning of the year, the SASAC said.(SD-Agencies)