China has converted the debts of 78 state-run enterprises totaling 112.2 billion yuan (13.5 billion U.S. dollars) to equities by January 24, a senior official said in Beijing on January 25.

A spokesman for the State Economic and Trade Commission SETC told a press conference that most of these state enterprises are expected to have profit this year.

China has introduced "debt-to-equity conversion" to turn the debts of money-losing state enterprises into equities owned by asset management companies and banks, which aims to easing the burden of those enterprises and helping them resume healthy operation.

So far, 601 such enterprises have been approved to adopt the method with an estimated 459.6 billion yuan (55 billion US dollars) in equity value. (Xinhua)