The latest data from the People’s Bank of China indicates that the country’s foreign reserves growth beat expectations in July with a month-on-month increase of USD$23.93 billion.
According to PBOC China’s trove of foreign currency hit $3.081 trillion in July, marking the first time since June 2014 that reserves have seen six consecutive months of increase.
The new figure was ahead of the estimate of $3.071 trillion produced by a Bloomberg survey.
Solid economic performance and more balanced cross-border capital flows helped to push China’s foreign reserves higher, as well as a faltering US dollar which raised the value of euro and yen-denominated assets.
China’s foreign reserves for July nonetheless saw a 3.8% decline compared to the same period last year, following sizeable capital outflows in the second half of 2016 that prompted regulators to introduce curbs on outbound investment.
