The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has recently disseminated the preliminary data in the Balance of Payments for the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2018. The SAFE spokesperson and chief economist Wang Chunying answered media questions on relevant issues.

Q: Could you brief us on China's balance of payments for 2018?

A: In 2018, China's BOP found an adaptive equilibrium. Both current account and financial account (excluding reserve assets) were in surplus and reserve assets rose.

The surplus under the current account remained within a reasonable range. In 2018, China's current account surplus was USD 49.1 billion. Although there was a deficit in the first quarter, it maintained surplus from the second quarter to the fourth quarter and the scale of surplus expanded quarter by quarter. In the fourth quarter, the current account surplus was USD 54.6 billion, up by 135% quarter on quarter, which was mainly attributed to a surplus of USD 139.1 billion, or a quarter-on-quarter increase of 38% under trade in goods in the Balance of Payments. The deficit of trade in services was USD 64.1 billion, down by 21% quarter on quarter.

Financial account (excluding reserve assets) remained in surplus, and cross-border capital registered net inflow. In 2018, financial account (excluding reserve assets) posted a surplus of USD 60.2 billion (including net errors and omissions for the fourth quarter). Among which, direct investment registered a net inflow of USD 107.4 billion, up by 62% year on year. Specifically, the net outflow of ODI was USD 96.1 billion, down by 6%, and the net inflow of FDI into China registered USD 203.5 billion, up by 21%.

Reserve assets rose. In 2018, China's reserve assets increased by USD 18.9 billion due to the BOP transactions (excluding the impact of non-transaction factors such as exchange rate and price), among which, foreign exchange reserves increased by USD 18.2 billion.

Thanks to China's sustained and sound economic development and long-term good prospects, the cross-border capital flows in the future will maintain overall stability and China's balance of payments will also remain basically balanced.