China's current account surplus remains in reasonable range

BEIJING — China's current account surplus remained in a reasonable range in the first half of this year, the country's foreign exchange regulator said Thursday.

The current account surplus stood at $69.3 billion in the first six months, accounting for 1.2 percent of the national GDP, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

The non-reserve financial account recorded a surplus of $67.9 billion, SAFE data showed.

A surplus in both accounts showed improvement in the economic structure, stable cross-border capital flow and controllable risks in the balance of payments, SAFE said in a report.

China will see basic equilibrium in the balance of payments in the second half of this year, a SAFE statement quoted an unnamed spokesperson as saying.

Positive factors will include a recovering global economy, stabilizing commodities prices, a steady domestic economy and greater opening-up of the financial market, the SAFE spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the SAFE report said it needs to keep a close eye on the influence of the US Federal Reserve's plan to start unwinding its balance sheet from October, a further step to end its loose monetary policy.

As the world's biggest emerging market economy, China will inevitably face certain pressure on capital flow, according to the report.

However, it said the Fed's pace of normalizing its monetary policy has been relatively steady, noting that economic fundamentals remain the key to guard against risks.

China's economic development has been stable with a positive outlook, a current account surplus, controllable external debt and around 3 trillion dollars of forex reserves, all of which will cushion the economy against changes in the external environment, according to SAFE.

The current account surplus for the second quarter of this year stood at $50.9 billion, while the quarterly non-reserve financial account surplus was $31.1 billion.

The country's international investment position is also sound, with $1.75 trillion of net external assets at the end of June, according to SAFE.