That translates into a per-capita increase of US$132 in 2002 for the country's 1.2 billion residents.

According to a report released by the People's Bank of China, the increase for 2002 is about 377.5 billion yuan (US$46 billion) more than that of the previous year.

As of the end of December 2002, the outstanding amount of bank deposits of urban and rural Chinese residents totaled 8.7 trillion yuan (US$1.06 trillion), up 17.8 percent year-on-year, according to the report.

The growth rate is 3.1 percentage points higher than that of 2001.

By the end of December 2002, the outstanding amount of bank deposits of all financial and banking institutions stood at 18.3 trillion yuan (US$2.231 trillion), up 18.1 percent from 2001.

The outstanding bank deposits in foreign exchange reached US$150.7billions, up 7.5 percent, a net increase of US$10.7 billion.

China ended 2002 with foreign exchange reserves of US$286.4 billion, an increase of 34.9 percent over 2001, and a net increase of US$74.2 billion.

The net increase is US$27.6 billion more than that of 2001.

Experts with the central bank said that its prudent monetary policies and flexible policy tools helped to promote economic development and economic restructuring in 2002.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2003)