BEIJING — China has steadily advanced the transfer of state assets to social security funds to make the funds more sustainable, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

In 2018, China launched the transfer of 82.1 billion yuan (about $12 billion) from 18 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to social security funds, Peng Huagang, spokesperson for the SASAC told a press conference on July 16.

China is recently mulling transfer of a further more than 521.71 billion yuan from 35 SOEs, with a transfer ratio of 10 percent of the state-owned equity, to replenish the funds, Peng added.

The State Council issued the implementation program on replenishing social security funds with state capital in November 2017, deciding to pilot the measure in selected central and local SOEs.

While replenishing the funds with state capital, China has unveiled measures to cut the social insurance contribution of businesses as part of its efforts to reduce the burden of companies and boost market vitality.