China News Service, December 25. According to the website of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange has recently announced the official balance of payments for the third quarter and the first three quarters of 2020 and the international investment position at the end of September 2020.
Wang Chunying, deputy director and spokesperson of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said in response to reporters that in the first three quarters, my country had a current account surplus of US$168.7 billion, which was 1.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP), which remained within a reasonable equilibrium range; Cross-border capital flows were generally stable, and investment and financing continued to show strong stability.
First, the surplus in trade in goods increased, and the deficit in trade in services narrowed.
The goods trade surplus in the balance of payments was US$340.2 billion, an increase of 12% year-on-year, mainly due to better-than-expected imports and exports of goods trade; the service trade deficit was US$116.8 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 42%, mainly due to the decrease in cross-border travel during the epidemic. The travel deficit narrowed by 46% year-on-year.
Second, non-reserve foreign investment and foreign investment in China are both active.
At present, various types of cross-border transactions, such as direct investment, securities investment, deposits and loans, have entered and exited. Overseas entities' investment and holding of RMB assets and domestic entities' allocation of global assets have remained active.
In the first three quarters, my country's foreign investment grew faster than foreign investment. The net assets of non-reserve financial accounts increased by US$408 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.7 times; the net external liabilities increased by US$337.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of double.
On the whole, my country is the only major economy in the world that has achieved positive economic growth this year, but there are still many uncertainties in the epidemic situation and the external environment, and the foundation for economic recovery is not solid. It is expected that my country’s international balance of payments will continue to show overall stability throughout the year. Basically balanced pattern.
Wang Chunying said that as of the end of September 2020, my country's international investment position is generally stable. The scale of external financial assets and liabilities is affected by transactions, asset price changes and exchange rate conversion, and has shown growth. Reserve assets have remained basically stable.
First, the total scale of external financial assets has increased.
At the end of September 2020, my country’s external assets were US$8,166.6 billion, an increase of 3.9% from the end of June.
Among them, direct investment assets were US$2,164.3 billion, an increase of 1.9%; securities investment assets were US$772.8 billion, an increase of 10.3%; foreign deposits and loans and other investment assets were US$1,934 billion, an increase of 8.5%; reserve assets were US$3281.2 billion, an increase of 1.2%.
Second, the total scale of external liabilities increased. At the end of September 2020, my country’s external debt was US$6012.8 billion, an increase of 6.2% from the end of June. Among them, direct investment liabilities were US$3.1068 billion, an increase of 5.4%; securities investment liabilities were US$1506.9 billion, an increase of 9.3%; and other investment liabilities such as deposits and loans were US$1.3878 billion, an increase of 4.8%.