China enjoyed a strong balance of international payments in the first half of this year, with the current account and the capital and financial accounts maintaining surpluses and its foreign exchange reserves building up steadily.

Driven by a strong foreign trade surplus, China's current account surplus reached US$13.6 billion during the period, much higher than the surplus of US$5.1 billion for the same period last year, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said in a report yesterday.

During this period, China's exports grew a year-on-year 15 percent to US$143.3 billion and imports grew 10 percent to US$122.6 billion, leading to a trade surplus of US$20.7 billion.

"The fast growth of exports was mainly because of the recovery of the Asian, the US and other developed economies," the report said.

The improvement in the make-up of export commodities and the increased competitiveness of Chinese enterprises also contributed to the growth, the report said.

However, the service trades, including banking, insurance, the hospitality industry, and international services such as the provision of labour, continued to see a large deficit. The deficit rose a year-on-year 35 percent in the first half year to US$4.3 billion.

The report stated the deficit of income during the period was close to that for the same period last year, which stood at US$8.5 billion.

During the first half year, the capital and financial account saw a surplus of US$12.2 billion, lower than the surplus of US$18.9 billion for the same period a year ago, the report said.

China attracted US$24.6 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) during the period, a year-on-year increase of 19 percent, the report said.

The growing FDI was partly because of the improvement of China's economic structure and the country's efforts to open more areas to foreign investors, it said.

The report said that portfolio investment remained in deficit, standing at US$7 billion at the end of the first half year.

Fueled by the surplus in the current account and the capital and financial accounts, reserve assets, including monetary gold, special drawing rights, the position of reserves in the fund and foreign exchange, increased by US$31.1 billion during the first half compared with a year ago, the report said.

By the end of June, China's foreign exchange reserves had reached US$242.8 billion.

(China Daily October 18, 2002)