Holding of RMB assets set new high in global forex reserves in Q1

Photo taken on March 4, 2020 shows the skyscrapers of the Central Business District (CBD) in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Foreign exchange (forex) reserves of RMB assets around the globe registered 287.46 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2021, achieving the ninth consecutive quarter of growth, reported China Securities Journal Friday quoting the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

By the end of the first quarter, the share of RMB assets in the global official forex reserves further rose to 2.45 percent, hitting a new high since the data was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016.

According to data from IMF, the global forex reserve of RMB assets recorded 90.778 billion U.S. dollars in the fourth quarter of 2016, topped 100 billion U.S. dollars for the first time to reach 108.155 billion U.S. dollars in the third quarter of 2017, and further exceeded 200 billion U.S. dollars to notch 203.085 billion U.S. dollars in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The data echoed the increasing allocation of RMB assets by international investors in recent years.

In the first quarter of 2021, foreign investors continued to increase their holdings of RMB bonds, according to Wang Chunying, deputy administrator of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) of China.

"The foreign investors are mainly foreign central banks and sovereign wealth funds and other institutions that favor medium-and long-term allocation of RMB assets with good investment stability," she said.

Data from the Shanghai Head Office of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) showed that as of the end of May this year, foreign institutions held 3.68 trillion yuan of RMB bonds in China's inter-bank market, accounting for about 3.5 percent of the total amount of custody in China's inter-bank bond market, and in the first five months of this year, foreign institutions increased their net holdings of Chinese bonds by more than 420 billion yuan.

(Edited by Gu Shanshan with Xinhua Silk Road, gushanshan.1987@163.com)