BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's yuan funds outstanding for foreign exchange continued to decline in December, central bank's data showed.
The funds stood at about 21.256 trillion yuan (about 3.148 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of December 2018, down 4.041 billion yuan from the previous month, representing a fall in the fifth consecutive month, according to the People's Bank of China, China's central bank.
As the Chinese currency -- the yuan -- is not freely convertible under the capital account, the central bank has to purchase foreign currency generated by a trade surplus and foreign investment in the country, adding funds to the money market.
Such funds are an important indicator of cross-border foreign capital flows and domestic yuan liquidity.
The latest data of the central bank also shows that in December, the newly-added RMB loans extended by the big four banks (Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China) amounted to 352.148 billion yuan, while those extended by the small and medium-sized banks stood at 658.153 billion yuan. (Edited by Hu Pingchao, hupingchao@xinhua.org)
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