Chinanews.com, August 7th. According to the website of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange recently announced preliminary data on the balance of payments for the second quarter and the first half of 2020. Wang Chunying, deputy director and spokesperson of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, answered reporters' questions on related issues. Wang Chunying pointed out that on the whole, my country's balance of payments in the first half of the year was still in a balanced range.
Data map: Bank staff count currency. Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Yun
A reporter asked: What are the characteristics of my country's balance of payments in the first half of 2020?
Wang Chunying said that preliminary data from the balance of payments show that in the first half of 2020, China’s current account surplus was 85.9 billion U.S. dollars, which is 1.3% of GDP, which continues to operate within a reasonable range; direct investment shows a net inflow. , The two-way capital flow in the securities market remained active.
First, the surplus in trade in goods increased year-on-year. In the first half of 2020, the balance of payments calibre trade surplus in goods was US$184.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2%. In terms of quarters, the goods trade surplus in the first quarter was 23.1 billion US dollars, and the surplus in the second quarter was 161.3 billion US dollars, indicating that my country's economy has recovered steadily, and the resumption of work and production has improved month by month.
Second, the service trade deficit narrowed year-on-year. In the first half of 2020, the service trade deficit was US$76.5 billion, a 41% year-on-year decrease. Among them, the travel deficit was US$61.7 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 44%, mainly due to the sharp contraction of outbound travel due to the global epidemic; the transportation deficit of US$19.1 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 31%, was mainly affected by the decline in imports of goods.
Third, the surplus in direct investment continued, and the two-way capital flow in the securities market remained active. In the first half of 2020, there was a direct investment surplus of US$18.7 billion, of which foreign direct investment was US$47.2 billion and direct investment in China was US$65.9 billion, both of which remained basically stable. In the securities market, in the second quarter, the net inflow of overseas investment in domestic securities exceeded US$60 billion, which was at a historically high level, indicating that RMB assets have strong appeal; my country's foreign securities investment also maintained a certain scale.
Wang Chunying pointed out that on the whole, my country's balance of payments in the first half of the year was still in a balanced range. At present, my country's overall planning of epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development has achieved significant results, the economic structure has continued to be optimized, and the reform and opening up continue to deepen. These fundamental advantages have provided favorable conditions for my country's balance of payments in the second half of the year.