China’s forex reserves, the world’s largest, grew in May to $3.102 trillion, according to data by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.
This is $10.2 billion, or 0.3 percent, more than the country’s central bank held at the end of April.
Spokesperson for the agency Wang Chunying said that the central bank’s gold reserves stood at 62.64 million fine troy ounces, unchanged from the end of 2019.
Chunying explained the increase in forex reserves, which had been forecast to slump slightly, by the impact of fluctuations in exchange rates and prices of assets held by the central bank. He did not go into further detail.
He added that China won’t change its financial policy instruments and will “continue to suport the overall stability of foreign exchange reserves.”
The yuan fell by 1 percent against the dollar last month, but foreign investments in Chinese stocks and bonds have also grown on hopes of economic rebound. China was the first major economy to start reopening, making it likely to return back to normal earlier than others.
Customs data showed that Chinese exports fared slightly better than anticipated, yet imports posted their worst decline in four years because of low domestic demand and a decline in commodity prices.