In the year 2004 China will continue to maintain its "double surplus" situation of current account and capital account, and the Renminbi exchange rate will remain stable, a person in charge from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange predicted when publishing the balance of international payments of China, 2003.

Latest statistics from the Administration showed that surplus were continuously achieved for the current account, capital account and financial account under

the country's international payments 2003, of which surplus for current account registered at $45.9 billion, or 30 percent growth over the previous year; surplus for capital and financial accounts stood at $52.7 billion, 63 percent up. Driven by the double surplus of current account and capital, financial accounts, the nation's foreign exchange reserve increased by $116.8 billion, hitting a record in history.

China's international payments last year displayed four major features, this person in charge revealed.

Scale of current account surplus grew rapidly. Surplus under freight account was at the same level with that of 2002; service trade expanded further with a bigger deficit; both income and expenses under income items increased, with a deficit scale smaller than the previous year, while surplus of current account grew by a large margin.

Surplus under capital and financial accounts surged remarkably, which stood at $52.7 billion, 63 percent higher than previous year's $32.3 billion. Inflow of direct investment by foreign businessmen remained stable and securities investment saw a turn from deficit to surplus while deficit for other investments increased.

Reserve assets registered large growth. China's international reserve rose rapidly driven by the double surplus of current account, capital and financial accounts. By the end of last year the nation's foreign exchange reserve reached $403.25 billion.

Net errors and omissions occurred at the credit side. With the method for formulating balance of international payments remain unchanged, the net errors and omissions in 2003 appeared at the credit side. The figure was $18.422 billion, or 2.21 percent of international total cargo import/export volume, which was within a reasonable range commonly accepted internationally.

Viewing from statistics of China's balance of payments in recent years, the official said, items under trade, current transfers and direct investment had maintained surplus for many years, which had become a major contributor to the nation's overall surplus in international payments. Deficit was shown in items under service and income, but it's much smaller than surplus of trade, current transfers and direct investment. Recently years have seen quite big deficit in securities investment, but comparatively big surplus appeared last year, while other investment items saw surplus and deficit alternately in different years.

By People's Daily Online