China News Service, July 17th, Wang Chunying, deputy director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and press spokesperson, said from the data of bank foreign exchange settlement and sales, in the first half of 2020, the bank denominated in US dollars, the bank exchange settlement was 953.5 billion US dollars, and the sale of foreign exchange was 874.9 billion yuan. In US dollars, the surplus of foreign exchange settlement and sales was US$78.6 billion; in RMB terms, banks had 6.7 trillion yuan in foreign exchange settlement, 6.1 trillion yuan in foreign exchange sales, and 553.1 billion yuan in surplus in foreign exchange settlement and sales.

  From the data of bank valet's foreign receipts and payments, denominated in US dollars, bank valet's foreign revenues are 190.66 billion US dollars, foreign payments are 190.5 billion US dollars, and foreign surpluses in foreign receipts and payments are 2 billion US dollars; in RMB, bank valet's foreign revenues are 13.4 trillion yuan The external payment was 13.4 trillion yuan, and the surplus of foreign-related payment was 15.6 billion yuan.

Figure: Bank staff is counting the currency. China News Service reporter Zhang Yunshe

  The State Council Information Office held a press conference on the 17th, at which Wang Chunying introduced foreign exchange revenue and expenditure data for the first half of 2020. She said that in the first half of 2020, the sudden new coronary pneumonia epidemic had a severe impact on the global economy and the international financial market fluctuated violently. At present, the global epidemic situation and the world economic situation are still severe and complicated, and there are many uncertainties. The domestic overall epidemic prevention and control and the resumption of production have achieved major stage results. Since the second quarter, the national economy has gradually recovered, and various economic indicators have improved marginally. The flexibility of the RMB exchange rate has increased and remained basically stable. Overall, my country’s cross-border capital flows were generally stable in the first half of the year, the supply and demand in the foreign exchange market were basically balanced, and its ability to respond to external shocks was significantly enhanced.

  Wang Chunying pointed out that in the first half of 2020, my country's foreign exchange revenue and expenditure situation mainly showed the following characteristics:

  First, the bank's foreign exchange settlement and sales showed a surplus, and the supply and demand of the foreign exchange market remained basically balanced. In the first half of 2020, banks had a surplus of USD 78.6 billion in foreign exchange settlement and sales. Among them, the first and second quarters were surpluses of 39.1 billion and 39.5 billion US dollars, respectively. In terms of monthly changes, the average monthly surplus from January to May was US$15.5 billion. In June, the surplus narrowed to US$900 million due to the relatively concentrated distribution of seasonal dividends. Comprehensively considering other supply and demand factors such as the net purchase of foreign exchange by foreign institutions in the inter-bank foreign exchange market and the increase in bank foreign exchange positions, the supply and demand of my country's foreign exchange market remained basically balanced in the first half of the year.

  Second, cross-border capital flows were generally stable, with net capital inflows increasing in the second quarter. In the first half of the year, from the data point of view, the bank valet's foreign-related balance of payments had a slight surplus of US$2 billion, of which, the deficit in the first quarter was US$30.1 billion, mainly due to the impact of international financial market turmoil in March, and the increase in cross-border RMB outflows under stock investment; 4 Since the beginning of this month, cross-border stocks have returned to normal levels of two-way investment. In the second quarter, the bank’s foreign exchange receipts and payments achieved a surplus of US$32.2 billion. Therefore, the second characteristic is that cross-border capital flows are generally stable. On a quarterly basis, the net inflow of funds increased in the second quarter.

  Third, the exchange rate for sales has declined, and the willingness of enterprises to raise foreign exchange financing within and across borders has generally risen steadily. In the first half of the year, the ratio of sales to foreign exchange purchases, that is, the ratio of customers buying foreign exchange from banks to foreign exchange expenditures of foreign customers, was 63%, a year-on-year decrease of 3.5 percentage points. As of the end of June 2020, the balance of domestic foreign exchange loans of Chinese banks has increased by US$52.4 billion from the end of 2019, indicating that the overall foreign exchange financing needs of enterprises have increased; at the end of June, the balance of foreign currency financing for cross-border trade such as imported overseas payment and forward letter of credit Compared with the end of 2019, it fell by 3%, while imports fell by 7% over the same period, indicating that the willingness of enterprises to cross-border foreign exchange financing remained relatively stable. Therefore, the third feature is that the sales exchange rate has declined, and the willingness of enterprises to raise foreign currency financing within and across borders has generally increased steadily.

  Fourth, the settlement exchange rate has grown steadily, and market players' willingness to hold foreign exchange has declined. In the first half of the year, the exchange rate, which measures the willingness of foreign exchange settlement, that is, the ratio of foreign exchange sales of customers to banks to foreign exchange income of foreign customers was 66%, an increase of 2.0 percentage points year-on-year. As of the end of June 2020, the balance of domestic foreign exchange deposits of entities such as enterprises and individuals decreased by US$5 billion from the end of the previous year. Therefore, we conclude that this characteristic is that the exchange rate of the exchange rate has grown steadily, and the market players' willingness to hold foreign exchange has declined.

  Fifth, the scale of foreign exchange reserves has risen steadily. As of the end of June 2020, the balance of foreign exchange reserves was US$3.1123 billion, an increase of US$4.4 billion from the end of 2019. Among them, the balance of foreign exchange reserves increased by 10.6 billion U.S. dollars in June and rebounded for three consecutive months in the second quarter. Overall, the supply and demand of the domestic foreign exchange market remained basically balanced in the first half of the year, and the changes in foreign exchange reserve balance were mainly affected by factors such as exchange rate conversion and changes in asset prices.