China forex pile swells to US$3.3t
(01-10 16:37)
China's foreign exchange reserves, already the world's largest, increased to US$3.31 trillion at the end of last year to the highest level since February, central bank data show.
The figure was up from the US$3.29 trillion seen at the end of September, according to data from the People's Bank of China. Beijing also said today the trade surplus for 2012 hit a four-year high. Growth in China's massive reserves has been fuelled by decades of large trade surpluses, AFP reports.
Economic growth hit a more than three-year low of 7.4 percent in the third quarter, although recent manufacturing and other data have fuelled optimism that it has begun to recover.
“With clear signs of economic recovery ... we expect the direction of capital flows is changing to some moderate capital inflows to China recently,'' Lu Ting, Hong Kong-based economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in a report.
Separately, Chinese banks cut back lending in December from November, separate data from the central bank showed. Domestic banks extended 454.3 billion yuan in new loans in December, down from 522.9 billion yuan in November, the central bank said.
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