China's reserve assets increases in 2018

BEIJING, March 29 (Xinhua) -- China's reserve assets increased by 18.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said Friday.

The country's current account surplus stood at 49.1 billion U.S. dollars last year, down from the 2017 level of 195.1 billion dollars, the administration said, describing the current account as "remaining basically balanced."

China's current account has witnessed a surplus for 25 consecutive years, and the surplus peaked at more than 420 billion dollars in 2008.

The country's capital and financial account recorded a surplus of 111.1 billion dollars in 2018. The capital account posted a deficit of 600 million dollars, while the non-reserve financial account reported a surplus of 130.6 billion dollars.

As of the end of 2018, China's external financial assets reached 7.32 trillion dollars and its external debts stood at 5.19 trillion dollars. Enditem