China News Agency, Beijing, May 8 (Xia Bin) The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (hereinafter referred to as the "Foreign Exchange Administration") released data on the 8th that in the first quarter of 2020, China's current account deficit was 207.6 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) In terms of U.S. dollars, it was 29.7 billion U.S. dollars, of which the trade surplus of goods was 184.5 billion yuan and the trade deficit of services was 328.1 billion yuan.

  Foreign Exchange Bureau spokesman and chief economist Wang Chunying told reporters that overall, although China ’s balance of payments was affected by the new coronary pneumonia epidemic in the first quarter of 2020, it remained within a basically balanced range. The current account showed a small deficit and direct investment Continuous net inflow.

  In particular, Wang Chunying mentioned that in the first quarter of 2020, the net inflow of direct investment was US $ 14.9 billion, mainly due to the net inflow of direct investment in China of US $ 33.6 billion. The US dollar shows that enterprises' direct foreign investment is stable and orderly.

  She also said that due to the superimposed epidemic caused by the holiday factors at the beginning of the year, in the first quarter of 2020, the balance of payments of goods trade surplus was 26.4 billion US dollars. Among them, the export of goods was 468.5 billion US dollars, down 11% year-on-year; the import of 442 billion US dollars was down 2% year-on-year.

  At the same time, in the first quarter of 2020, the service trade deficit was US $ 47 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 26%. Travel and transportation are still major deficit items. Among them, the travel deficit was 41.6 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 28%, mainly due to the marked decrease in outbound travel during the epidemic; the transport deficit was 11.7 billion US dollars, a 6% year-on-year decrease.

  Wang Chunying said that at present, China's epidemic prevention and control situation continues to improve, and the resumption of production and production is gradually approaching or reaching normal levels. The Chinese economy has shown great resilience, the economic structure has been continuously optimized, and reform and opening up have been further deepened. The foundation for China's overall balance of payments in the future will remain solid. (Finish)