Official Data Issued on China’s Balance of International Payments

September 17, 2012 Posted by China Briefing Reading Time: < 1 minute

Sept. 17 – China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) recently released the official data on China’s balance of international payments for the second quarter and the first half of 2012. Details for the balance of international payments are listed below.

In the second quarter of 2012, the surplus of current accounts reached US$53.7 billion, among which:

Goods trade surplus stood at US$90.9 billion
Service trade deficit amounted to US$22.2 billion
Income deficit reached US$15.6 billion
Current transfer surplus achieved US$600 million

The deficit of the capital and financial accounts amounted to US$41.2 billion, among which:

Net inflow of direct investment achieved US$41.1 billion
Net inflow of securities investment reached US$11.1 billion
Net outflow of other investments stood at US$94.4 billion

International reserve assets decreased by US$11.8 billion (excluding exchange rate, price and other non-trading value change effects), among which:

Foreign exchange reserves decreased by US$11.2 billion
Special Drawing Rights and reserve position in fund organizations decreased by US$500 million

In the first half of 2012, the surplus of the current accounts for balance of international payments reached US$77.2 billion, taking up 2.1 percent of GDP over the same period; the surplus of the capital and financial accounts reached US$14.9 billion; and the international reserve assets increased by US$62.9 billion.

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