China's foreign exchange regulator said on Friday that the country's forex market got off to a steady start in the first quarter of the year, wit
China’s foreign exchange regulator said on Friday that the country’s forex market got off to a steady start in the first quarter of the year, with the exchange rate of its currency, the renminbi or yuan, remaining stable and only appreciating slightly.
Wang Chunying, deputy director general of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), said at a press conference that China’s forex market remains relatively stable and cross-border capital flows are becoming more balanced.
According to bank foreign exchange transactions data, in the first quarter of 2023, forex sales of Chinese banks amounted to 561.3 billion in U.S. dollars, while forex purchases reached $546 billion. This resulted in a deficit of $15.3 billion.
When calculated in yuan terms, forex sales totaled 3.84 trillion yuan, while forex purchases reached 3.74 trillion yuan, resulting in a deficit of 105.5 billion yuan.
In terms of bank foreign exchange payments and receipts, China recorded a surplus of $34.2 billion, with foreign exchange receipts totaling $1.46 trillion, and foreign exchange payments totaling $1.45 trillion. When calculated in yuan terms, the country recorded a surplus of 232.9 billion yuan, with foreign exchange receipts totaling 10.17 trillion yuan and foreign exchange payments totaling 9.93 trillion yuan.
Wang said the overall momentum of growth in the first quarter indicated that the country’s economy is resurging and continuing to rebound.
In 2023, China will continue to deepen reforms in the forex sector, steadily promote high-quality opening-up of its capital account in an orderly manner, improve cross-border trade and investment, and continuously improve the management of forex reserves with Chinese characteristics, she said.
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