my country’s balance of payments maintains a basic balance
According to data recently released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, in the first quarter of 2022, my country’s balance of payments will remain basically balanced. Among them, the current account surplus was 88.9 billion US dollars, the highest value 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 and balanced range.
Wang Chunying, deputy director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and spokesperson, said that in the first quarter, my country’s national economy continued to recover, and economic operation achieved a smooth start. The balance of payments balance of goods trade surplus was 145 billion 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%; the import was 658.2 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 15%. The trade surplus in goods and the scale of exports and imports all hit the highest levels in history for the same period.
The service trade deficit continued to narrow. In the first quarter, the service trade deficit was US$16.7 billion, down 35% year-on-year. Among the main items, the deficit in travel was US$29.4 billion, an increase of 53%, mainly due to the increase in travel expenditure; the deficit in intellectual property royalties was US$7.7 billion, an increase of 11%, and the income and expenditure increased by 15% and 12% respectively, reflecting my country’s investment in the field of intellectual property. The international cooperation continued to deepen; the transportation surplus was 2.9 billion US dollars, mainly because the overall growth rate of transportation revenue was faster than the expenditure, and the deficit was 9 billion US dollars in the same period last year.
Cross-border two-way investment and financing are more active. In the first quarter, my country’s financial account assets saw a net increase of US$129.1 billion, including a net increase of US$39.3 billion in reserve assets due to transactions, a net increase of US$89.8 billion in non-reserve financial account assets, and a net increase in financial account liabilities of US$40.2 billion. Among them, my country’s foreign direct investment and direct investment in China both maintained a year-on-year growth, indicating that foreign investment has a strong willingness to invest in China, and my country’s foreign direct investment is reasonable and orderly.
On the same day, the foreign exchange bureau also released the international investment position statement at the end of March. Wang Chunying introduced that at the end of March, my country’s international investment position remained stable, and the structure of external assets and liabilities was stable. Among them, external assets were US$9,238.3 billion, and external liabilities were US$7,294.3 billion, down 0.9% and 0.6% respectively from the end of 2021, remaining basically stable. Relevant changes are mainly affected by non-transactional factors such as price fluctuations of global financial assets and changes in book value of non-US currencies converted into US dollars.
Wang Chunying said that among the foreign assets, the reserve assets remained above 3 trillion US dollars, and the scale continued to rank first in the world; the proportion of foreign direct investment remained stable. Among the external liabilities, direct investment in China accounted for the highest proportion, and the scale continued to grow, showing that foreign capital maintains confidence in my country’s long-term investment.
[Editor in charge: Diao Yunjiao]