(Yicai Global) Aug. 28 -- The ratio of China's debt to gross domestic product rose just 0.7 percentage point to 249.5 percent at the end of June from the previous quarter largely due to a slowdown in borrowing by non-financial companies, according to a new report from a research unit under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The gain was a marked improvement on the 5.1 percentage points increase to 248.8 percent at the end of the first quarter compared with the figure at end of last year, data from the National Institution for Finance and Development shows.

The debt ratio's fall to mid-2018 levels indicates that structural deleveraging is still underway, Dr. Liu Lei from the CASS's Institute of Economics told Yicai Global. While there will probably be a rebound in the third quarter, it is highly unlikely to exceed that of the first quarter, he added.

The debt-to-equity ratio at non-financial companies rose 2.2 points in the first half to 155.7 percent from 153.6 percent at the end of last year, the NIFD's data shows. That is slower than the 3.3 points increase in the first quarter.

China's macro leverage ratio is under control, said Prof. Nie Huihua from the People's University's School of Economics. In the long run, China's growth is more stable than in some developed countries, he added.

Proper perspective should be placed on the stabilizing of China's debt ratio, said Zhang Xiaojing, deputy director at the CASS's Institute of Economics. A fitting increase in the leverage ratio, especially that of the central government, should be tolerated with regard to boosting economic growth. It is also important to strike a dynamic balance between stabilizing growth and stabilizing borrowing.