For the purpose of further improving the transparency of statistical information on the balance of payments (BOP), enhancing the capacity to service the real economy by BOP statistics and facilitating utilization of the BOP statistics by the general public, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) will, beginning in January 2014, in addition to the current practice of releasing USD-denominated statistics, release RMB-denominated BOP-related statistics from 2013. Such statistics include statistics on the annual exchange settlements and sales by banks, foreign-related exchange receipts and payments on behalf of clients, the balance of international payments, and direct investments of financial institutions as well as external debts. With regard to the sequence of the release of the statements, the RMB-denominated statistical statements will precede the USD-denominated statistical statements.    

The released RMB-denominated BOP-related statistics are directly converted from the USD-denominated statistics based on the exchange rate of the USD against the RMB. In order to help the general public use the relevant time-series statistics, the SAFE will, at the same time, release the historical RMB-denominated statistics for 2010–2013. With regard to the statistics prior to 2010, users can select the historical time frame needed and make the conversion in line with the aforementioned method.