The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has recently disseminated the preliminary data in the Balance of Payments for the first quarter of 2019. The SAFE spokesperson and Chief Economist Wang Chunying answered media questions on relevant issues.

Q: Could you brief us on the characteristics of the balance of payments for the first quarter of 2019?

A: On the whole, in the first quarter of 2019, China’s balance of payments maintained basic equilibrium, registering a surplus in the current account, continuous net inflow of direct investment and securities investment and steady increase of reserve assets. The foundation for the overall equilibrium of balance of payments in the future remains solid.

First, the surplus of trade in goods remains the basis for the current account surplus. In the first quarter, the current account recorded a surplus of USD 58.6 billion, with a surplus of USD 94.5 billion under trade in goods in the Balance of Payments, up by 83% year on year. To be specific, export of goods was USD 540.4 billion, up by 2% year on year, and import of goods was USD 445.9 billion, down by 7% year on year.

Second, the deficit under trade in services shrank. In the first quarter of 2019, the deficit under trade in service was USD 63.4 billion, down by 14% year on year. Tourism and transport remain the major deficit items. Specifically, tourism posted a deficit of USD 57.6 billion, down by 9% year on year; the deficit in transport services was USD 12.5 billion, down by 14%.

Third, direct investment and securities investment maintained net inflow. In the first quarter of 2019, the net inflow of direct investment reached USD 21.4 billion, which is mainly resulted from the net inflow of FDI of USD 44 billion and net outflow of China’s ODI of USD 22.6 billion. According to incomplete statistics, in the first quarter of 2019, China’s net inflow under securities investment was about USD 15 billion registering sustained year-on-year growth.

Fourth, reserve assets continued to increase slightly, resulting in an adaptive equilibrium in the balance of payments. In the first quarter of 2019, China's reserve assets rose by USD 10 billion as a result of the BOP transactions (excluding the impact of non-transaction factors such as exchange rate and price), among which, foreign exchange reserves increased by USD 10 billion.