China forex reserves fall to $3.029T in Sept

Arrangement of various world currencies including Chinese Yuan, US Dollar, Euro, British Pound. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File photo

SHANGHAI  -China’s foreign exchange reserves fell in September, official data showed on Friday, as the dollar climbed against other major currencies.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves – the world’s largest – decreased to $3.029 trillion last month, compared with $3.055 trillion at the end of August.

China’s “current account will maintain a reasonable size surplus,” said Wang Chunying, spokesperson for the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in response to a question on future trends.

The yuan fell 3.2 percent against the dollar in September, while the dollar rose by about the same margin against a basket of other major currencies.

The value of China’s gold reserves fell to $104.72 billion at the end of September from $107.49 billion at the end of August.

China’s central bank said on Sept. 26 that it will reinstate foreign exchange risk reserves for some forwards contracts, a move that would make betting against the yuan currency more expensive in order to slow the pace of recent depreciation.