China's debt to GDP ratio grew at a slower pace in 2016 compared with the previous year, a government think tank report showed on Tuesday.

The debt level of the central government in 2016 was unchanged compared with the previous year, while local government and household debt went up by nine percent and five percent, respectively, compared with 2015, a report by the National Institution for Finance and Development with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences showed.

The deleveraging process in the non-financial sector contributed to slower growth of the debt ratio in 2016, according to the report.

Debt of State-owned enterprises went back to roughly the same level of 2007, the year before the financial crisis, as the central government's efforts to encourage cutting leverage starts to bear fruit, according to the report.

By the end of 2016, money invested in financial product attained 29 trillion yuan ($4.3 trillion), of which 70 percent was invested in non-financial economic activities, the report said.