China's forex reserves zoom to $ 2.64 trillion

BEIJING: China's foreign exchange reserves swelled to a whopping $ 2.64 trillion at the end of September, but trade surplus fell to five month low to $ 16.9 bn.

The reserves went up from $ 2.45 trillion at the end of June, to 2.64 last month, according to the latest figures released by the People's Bank, China's central bank.

China's forex reserves, the biggest in the world, have been swelling in the recent years fuelled by copious flows of foreign investment.

Faced with the glut of forex reserves, China has been investing heavily in the debt bonds of US, Japan and European Union.

Meanwhile, the new trade figures released today showed that the gap between exports and imports has narrowed to a five month low.

China's trade surplus for September dropped by 15.7 per cent, month-on-month, to $ 16.88 bn, which analysts attribute to a steady rise of Yuan due to sustained pressure from the US.

China's exports rose by 25.1 per cent in September from a year earlier to $ 144.99 bn, but the pace of growth slowed from August's 34.4 per cent surge, General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.

The imports also rose by 24.1 per cent year on year to reach record $ 128.11 bn last month, with the growth rate down by 11.1 percentage points.

China's September imports increased 7.4 per cent month on month, according to the GAC.

China's foreign trade in the first nine months totalled to $ 2.15 trillion a year-on-year increase of 37.9 percent.

The appreciation of the Yuan, had taken a toll on the country's export-oriented companies like Chang Yansheng, said an international trade researcher at China's National Development and Reform Commission.

The value of Yuan hit a new high against the US dollar Wednesday trading at 6.6693. The Chinese currency has strengthened against the US dollar by about 2.32 per cent since the People's Bank of China's (PBOC) pledge in June, official Xinhua news agency reported.

The Chinese central bank pledged on June 19 to increase the flexibility of the yuan exchange rate.

Tang Min, vice secretary-general of the China Development Research Foundation, said the decline in the growth rate of exports in September was normal considering the fading in the effects of stimulus measures of various nations.