BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- China's central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) saw a drop in their asset-liability ratio in the first quarter of this year thanks to deleveraging efforts, the country's top SOE regulator said Monday.

The average asset-liability ratio for central SOEs stood at 65.9 percent by the end of March, down by 0.4 percentage points compared with the beginning of this year, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

The country's SOE sector has become a major target for the ongoing deleveraging drive, which aims to rein in mounting debt and guard against financial risks.