The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has recently released the data on foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks and cross-border receipts and payments by non-banking sectors for January 2021. The SAFE deputy administrator and press spokesperson Wang Chunying answered media questions on foreign exchange receipts and payments for January 2021.

Q: Could you brief us on the situations of China’s foreign exchange receipts and payments in January 2021?

A: China's foreign exchange market stayed generally stable in January. Seen from major indicators, foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks registered a surplus of US$40.8 billion, down 39% month on month, while non-banking sectors recorded a surplus of US$48.8 billion in cross-border receipts and payments with a decline of 10%. The surpluses in the above indicators are mainly attributed to seasonal factors. As China’s goods exports and surplus are generally high by the yearend, and fund demand of enterprises is stronger before the Spring Festival, foreign exchange receipts and settlement under trade are put together. In January, foreign exchange settlement and sales and cross-border receipts and payments under trade in goods posted surpluses of over US$40 billion each, and were the major contributors to the surplus.

With stable expectations, market players were rational in foreign exchange settlement and sales. In January, the settlement ratio that measures enterprises' willingness to settle their foreign exchange, which is the ratio of foreign exchange customers sold to banks to their receipts of foreign exchange from foreign-related transactions, was 65%, down by six percentage points month on month. The foreign exchange sales ratio that measures the willingness to buy foreign exchange, which is the ratio of foreign exchange purchased by customers from banks to the customers' cross-border foreign exchange payments was 62%, up by two percentage points.

Cross-border investments were active in both directions. The cross-border receipts and payments under the capital account stayed high in both directions, maintaining a general equilibrium. The cross-border receipts and payments under direct investment maintained net inflows. Portfolio investment registered a net outflow on the whole. Net holdings of onshore bonds and stocks by foreign investors increased by US$41.6 billion, while domestic players increased US$40.1 billion worth of Hong Kong shares through southbound trading.

Generally, supported by the fundamentals of China’s stable and sustained economic recovery and the two-way opening-up of the financial market, China’s two-way cross-border capital flows have become more active, which is conducive to further enhancing the depth and width of the foreign exchange market. Looking ahead, the external environment is expected to remain intricate and complex, and there will still be a number of unstable and uncertain factors in the process of world economic recovery. Nevertheless, amid China’s efforts to build a new system for an open economy at a higher level, the foundation for sound and sustained economic growth remains unchanged, and the foreign exchange market is expected to run smoothly.