
Latest news and statistics on China's economy and business climate.

China's foreign exchange reserves, 1977-2007

Home Rmb converter Weather Books Q&A forum Mailing list Webmaster

Foreign reserves minus gold (US$ billion, end-month)
1977	2.3
1978	1.6
1979	2.2
1980	2.5
1981	5.1
1982	11.3
1983	15.0
1984	17.4
1985	12.7
1986	11.5
1987	16.3
1988	18.5
1989	18.0
1990	29.6
1991	43.7
1992	*20.6
1993	22.4
1994	52.9
1995	75.4
1996	107.0
1997	142.8
1998	149.2
1999	146.2
2000	165.6
2001	212.2
2002	286.4
2003	403.3
Jan 2004	415.7
Feb 2004	426.6
Mar 2004	439.8
Apr 2004	449.0
May 2004	458.6
Jun 2004	470.6
Jul 2004	483.0
Aug 2004	496.2
Sep 2004	514.5
Oct 2004	542.4
Nov 2004	573.9
Dec 2004	609.9
Jan 2005	623.6
Feb 2005	642.6
Mar 2005	659.1
Apr 2005	670.8
May 2005	691.0
Jun 2005	711.0
Sep 2005	769.0
Dec 2005	818.9
Jan 2006	845.2
Feb 2006	853.7
Mar 2006	875.1
Apr 2006	895.0
May 2006	925.0
Jun 2006	941.1
Jul 2006	954.6
Aug 2006	972.0
Sep 2006	987.9
Oct 2006	1,009.6
Nov 2006	1,038.8
Dec 2006	1,066.3
Jan 2007	1,104.7
Feb 2007	1,157.4
Mar 2007	1,202.0
Apr 2007	1,246.6
May 2007	1,292.7
Jun 2007	1,332.6
Jul 2007	1,385.2
Aug 2007	1,408.6
Sep 2007	1,433.6
Oct 2007	1,454.9
Nov 2007	1,497.0
Dec 2007	1,528.2

A mountain of reserves

At the start of the reform era at the end of 1978, China's foreign exchange reserves were minimal, but enough to cover the requirements of a country with a very small import bill.

In the early 1980s, export growth contributed to an initial rise in reserves to a peak of US$17.4bn by 1984. High trade deficits in 1985 and 1986 eroded the reserves in those years.

In 1987 the surplus on trade in services slightly exceeded the merchandise trade deficit, producing a small current-account surplus, and a comfortable net capital inflow helped push up reserves to US$16.3bn. The reserves were held above this level for another two years.

The economic slowdown of 1989-91 produced a sharp fall in imports in 1990, while exports continued to rise, producing a merchandise trade surplus for that year of US$9.2bn, which was gradually eroded in the next three years as imports rose faster than exports. By 1993 the trade and current accounts were in deficit, but the acceleration in inward FDI flows kept foreign exchange reserves rising for most of the rest of the decade.

Joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001 contributed to rapid growth in imports, but exports also expanded at a fast pace, while FDI inflows exceeded US$60 billion a year by 2004-2006.

In October 2006, China's foreign exchange reserves exceeded USD1 trillion for the first time. By the end of 2007, the reserves exceeded USD 1.5 trillion, equal to over USD1,000 per head for the entire population of China.

* The 1992 figure is lower than the 1991 figure because reserves were redefined in 1992 to exclude foreign-exchange deposits of state-owned entities with the Bank of China.

Source: State Administration of Foreign Exchange, People's Republic of China.