Q: The latest data on foreign exchange reserves released by the People's Bank of China (PBC) show that China's foreign exchange reserves as at the end of April 2017 rose by USD 20.4 billion month on month. Could you tell us why the change occurred?

A: As at the end of April 30, 2017, China's foreign exchange reserves amounted to USD 3.0295 trillion, rising by a slight USD 20.4 billion or 0.7% month on month. This is the third consecutive month that China's foreign exchange reserves have increased.

In April, China's cross-border capital flows continued to find an equilibrium, featuring a basic balance between foreign exchange supply and demand. In the global financial markets, the non-USD currencies appreciated against the USD, with the asset prices picking up. Under the combined impact of these factors, foreign exchange reserves have rebounded.

Since the beginning of 2017, China's macro-economic performance has continued to make progress while maintaining stability, with good momentum for growth. The economic growth has recovered slightly, hitting 6.9% in the first quarter, up by 0.1 percentage point quarter on quarter. Other economic indicators all recovered to some extent. As the global economy continues to recover slowly, the global financial markets have performed stably, the RMB exchange rate has stayed stable, and cross-border capital flows and the supply and demand in the foreign exchange markets are basically balanced. Driven by this, enterprises have become more reasonable in buying foreign exchange and their desire to settle foreign exchange has been strengthened.

Going forward, as China's supply-side structural reform is deepened, China's economic fundamentals will continue to exhibit a good momentum for growth, the expectations of the RMB exchange rate will stay stable, and cross-border capital flows will develop towards an equilibrium, all of which will boost China's foreign exchange reserves towards further stability.