China international payment continues“double surp lus” in first quarter

首季中国国际收支继续顺差

China's international payment continued the“ double surplus” under concurrent account， and capital and financial account,according to the revised data on China's international payment balance sheet for the first quarter of this year issued by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange(SAFE).Of this，the surplus under the concurrent account dropped a bit.

In the first quarter,the surplus under the concurrent account of China's international payment was US$53.6 billion，declining 32%year on year.Based on international payment statistics methods， the surplus under cargo account amounted to US$30.3 billion，the deficit under service was US$7.2 billion， the yield surplus， US$21.1 billion； and the surplus under concurrent transfer account， US$9.5 billion.The sruplus under the capital and financial account was US$64.2 billion，which was in deficit of US$12.8 billion year on year.Of this，the net inflow of direct investment amounted to US$15.5 billion；net inflow of securities investment， US$2.2 billion； and the inflow of other investments，US$45.4 billion.

From January to Mach,China's international reserve assets increased US$96.0 billion，including US$95.9 billion of for eign exchange reserve assets(not including non-trading value changes such as exchange rate and prices)，and the special drawing rights(SDR)increased US$100 million.

This is the first time for SAFE to publish quarterly statistics on the international payment.SAFE released the preliminary figures in middle-May.According to the preliminary statistics,the surplus under the concurrent account was US$40.9 billion in the first quarter,and that under the capital and financial account,US$55 billion.

The long-time “double surplus” has helped China avoid crisis in international payment which frequently happens in many developing countries,but there still exists hidden risk in the composition of the international payment,China's trade surplus is largely from processing trade of foreigh-funded companies in the country,but not the general trade of domestic companies.Based on the added value standards,China's trade surplus shall be much smaller than the size shown in the present statistics.At the same time,the import demand of some excess-consumption countries in Europe and America exceeding their actual economic capacity is an important

factor leading to the long-time “double surplus” in China.However,the financial crisis has weakened the external demand.