China's forex reserves expand for three consecutive months

File photo shows a resident holding China's RMB and U.S. dollar banknotes on hands in Qionghai, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Meng Zhongde)

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Data from China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed that the country's foreign exchange reserves rose to 3.1277 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of December 2022, up 0.33 percent from a month earlier, marking three consecutive expansions in the fourth quarter of 2022, reported Shanghai Securities News on Monday.

China's foreign exchange reserves stayed generally stable in 2022, maintaining a level of over three trillion U.S. dollars, amid the background that many countries around the world saw drops in their foreign exchange reserves. In the first three quarters of 2022, the amount of global forex reserves saw a decrease of 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars to 11.6 trillion U.S. dollars, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Especially in December, the net outflows of funds through "northbound trading" exceeded 35 billion U.S. dollars, which shows that foreign investors are upbeat on the prospect of Chinese economy and capital market, said Wen Bin, chief economist with China Minsheng Bank.

In 2023, "stability" will continue to be a key word for China's foreign exchange reserves. The fundamentals of a steadily growing, highly resilient, promising and dynamic economy have remained unchanged, which contributes to overall stability of the country's foreign exchange reserves, said the foreign exchange regulator.

(Edited by Li Shimeng with Xinhua Silk Road, lishimeng@xinhua.org)