On June 24, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange released China’s international balance of payments statement for the first quarter of 2022, which showed that in dollar terms, the current account surplus in the first quarter of this year was US $88.9 billion, the highest in the same period in history< Br>
of which, the trade surplus in goods was $145 billion, the trade deficit in services was $16.7 billion, the initial revenue deficit was $44.6 billion, and the secondary revenue surplus was $5.2 billion< Br>
in the first quarter, the capital and financial account deficit was $89.2 billion, including a capital account deficit of $200million, a direct investment surplus of $59.9 billion, a securities investment deficit of $79.8 billion, a financial derivatives deficit of $4.6 billion, a deficit of $25.2 billion in other investments, and an increase of $39.3 billion in reserve assets< Br>
“in the first quarter of 2022, China’s international balance of payments remained basically in balance. Among them, the current account surplus was US $88.9 billion, the highest in the same period in history, and the ratio to the gross domestic product (GDP) in the current quarter was 2.1%, still in a reasonable equilibrium range.” Wangchunying, deputy director and spokesman of the State Administration of foreign exchange, said when answering a reporter’s question on the balance of payments and international investment position in the first quarter of 2022< Br>
specifically, the import and export of goods trade maintained steady growth. In the first quarter, the trade surplus in goods based on the international balance of payments reached 145billion US dollars, an increase of 18% year-on-year. Among them, the export of goods was 803.1 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 16%; Imports reached US $658.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 15%. The trade surplus of goods, the scale of exports and imports all reached the highest value in the same period in history< Br>
meanwhile, the service trade deficit continued to narrow< Br>
wangchunying said that in the first quarter, the service trade deficit was US $16.7 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 35%. Among the major projects, the travel deficit was US $29.4 billion, an increase of 53%, mainly due to the increase in travel expenditure; The deficit in intellectual property royalties was $7.7 billion, an increase of 11%, and revenue and expenditure increased by 15% and 12% respectively, reflecting the continued deepening of China’s international cooperation in the field of intellectual property; The transportation surplus was US $2.9 billion, mainly because the growth rate of transportation revenue was faster than that of expenditure as a whole, and the deficit was US $9billion in the same period of last year< Br>
in terms of cross-border two-way investment and financing, in the first quarter, China’s financial account assets increased by $129.1 billion, including a net increase of $39.3 billion in reserve assets due to transactions and a net increase of $89.8 billion in non reserve financial account assets; Financial account liabilities increased by $40.2 billion< Br>
wangchunying said that China’s foreign direct investment and direct investment in China have maintained year-on-year growth, which shows that foreign capital has a strong willingness to invest in China and China’s foreign direct investment is reasonable and orderly< Br>
“on the whole, China has effectively coordinated epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development. The long-term fundamentals of the economy have not changed, which is conducive to maintaining the basic balance of international payments.” Safe said< Br>
the statement of China’s international investment position at the end of March 2022 released by the State Administration of foreign exchange on the same day shows that China’s international investment position remains stable, and the structure of external assets and liabilities is stable< Br>
specifically, at the end of March 2022, China’s foreign financial assets were $9238.3 billion and its foreign liabilities were $7294.3 billion, down 0.9% and 0.6% respectively compared with the end of 2021, maintaining basic stability. Wangchunying said that the relevant changes were mainly affected by non trading factors such as the price fluctuations of global financial assets and the changes in the book value of non-U.S. currencies converted into U.S. dollars.