Wednesday July 15, 03:32 AM
China forex reserves hit record levels
BEIJING (AFP) - China's foreign exchange reserves, already the world's largest, rose by 17.8 percent year-on-year to a record 2.13 trillion dollars at the end of June, the country's central bank has said.
Foreign exchange reserves grew by 185.6 billion dollars in the first six months of this year, the bank said in a statement.
The figure was the highest reported by the bank. Foreign exchange reserves were 1.95 trillion dollars at the end of the first quarter of 2009.
The nation's foreign exchange reserves rose by 42.1 billion dollars in June, 30.2 billion dollars more than the same month last year, it said.
Such a rise appears to show that capital inflows into China are returning as the nation's economy recovers from the global financial crisis.
China's foreign exchange reserves have ballooned in recent fears, fuelled by robust foreign investment, a hefty trade surplus and inflows of "hot money" or short-term speculative funds in search of quick profits.
The nation's forex reserves stood at 1.946 trillion dollars at the end of 2008.
China has invested a large part of its vast reserves in US dollars, such as safe but low-yielding US Treasury bonds, but has tried amid the financial crisis to diversify its investments to improve its returns.
With the United States and the world economy still reeling from the crisis, Beijing in recent months has also called for the creation of a new international reserve currency to replace the dollar.
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