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Forex reserves drop for first time since 2003

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-24 07:38

China's foreign exchange reserves have declined for the first time in five years after peaking at $1.9 trillion at the end of September, a State Administration of Foreign Exchange official has said.

Cai Qiusheng, head of the foreign debts section under the capital-account management department, made the remarks at an annual meeting of China's import and export enterprises held over the weekend, Shanghai Securities Journal reported yesterday.

But Cai did not say in which month, October or November, the forex reserves fell below the $1.9-trillion level, nor did he disclose the current size of the forex reserves.

Central bank data show that at the end of September, China's forex reserves stood at $1.9056 trillion, a growth of 32.92 percent over the same period of last year. The reserves increased $377.3 billion in the first nine months of this year, $10 billion more than the year-earlier increment.

Yuan Yuedong, a senior researcher with the global financial market department of Bank of China, believes the latest reduction would not affect the Chinese economy adversely.

He attributed the downtrend in forex reserves to the recent slower appreciation of the yuan and short-term depreciation against the US dollar; and possible increased offshore investment by Chinese companies.

An investment-bank analyst who declined to be named, said the forex reserve decrease might be related to capital withdrawal from China by some foreign institutions whose liquidity was tight.

But Commerce Minister Chen Deming said earlier that there was no sign of large amounts of capital flowing out of China and that China remained an attractive destination for FDI.