China’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $91.7 billion in the third quarter, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said.

The figure, released on Tuesday, did not include the effects of changes in the exchange rate and asset prices.

China’s reserve position in the International Monetary Fund and Special Drawing Rights narrowed over the same period, the SAFE said.

The world’s second-largest economy was holding close to $3.3 trillion in foreign exchange by the end of Q3. However, the accumulation of foreign exchange reserves has witnessed a significant slowdown compared with earlier periods, the SAFE said.

Experts said the trend of declining trade surpluses since 2008 is partly to blame for the slowdown in the accumulation of foreign exchange reserves, with “a high start and a low end’ in China`s imports and exports in the first 3 quarters of this year.

SAFE data showed the surplus under the current account stood at $57.8 billion in Q3, while the surplus under the financial account stood at $33.9 billion.

Source:21cbh.com