Chinese lenders set record forex gap
Print Edition
CHINESE banks sold more foreign currency than they bought in March, setting a record deficit since records began in 2010.
Chinese banks bought 808.3 billion yuan (US$130.4 billion) in foreign currencies and sold 1.2 trillion yuan, leading to a deficit of 406.2 billion yuan, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said yesterday.
This is the eighth successive month of deficit.
Of the total, banks bought 768.8 billion yuan and sold 1.1 trillion yuan in foreign currencies for clients, resulting in 356.2 billion yuan of deficit in March.
The banks themselves bought 39.5 billion yuan in foreign currencies and sold 89.4 billion yuan in foreign currencies, resulting in 49.9 billion yuan of deficit in March.
Guan Tao, head of the international payments department at SAFE, said the capital outflows from China were expected adjustments, not covert or illegal capital flight.
The banks’ deficit in foreign exchange settlement was US$66 billion in March, US$17.2 billion in February and US$8.2 billion in January, resulting in a US$91.4 billion gap in the first quarter, up 97 percent from the fourth quarter of last year.
“Such adjustments can be explained and should not be hyped,” Guan said.
It is a common for banks to sell foreign currencies to firms or individuals and buy foreign currencies from them. Known as the bank exchange, it can be used to study the supply-demand relationship in the interbank forex market and impact the yuan’s exchange rate.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
