China News Service, Beijing, February 18 (Reporter Xia Bin) According to data released by China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange on the 18th, in US dollar terms, in 2023, China's current account surplus will be 264.2 billion US dollars, of which the surplus in goods will be 608 billion US dollars and the deficit in services will be 229.4 billion US dollars. In the capital and financial account, reserve assets increased by $15.6 billion.
Wang Chunying, deputy director and spokesperson of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, told reporters that preliminary data from the balance of payments show that China's balance of payments will remain basically balanced in 2023. The ratio of the size of the current account surplus to the gross domestic product (GDP) for the same period is 15%, which continues to be in a reasonable equilibrium range; Cross-border capital flows have stabilized and improved, and investment in China has generally maintained a net inflow pattern.
Wang Chunying pointed out that in 2023, China's balance of payments surplus will be 608 billion US dollars, second only to the surplus in 2022 and the second highest in the past. Among them, the export of goods was 3,179.6 billion US dollars, and the import was 2,571.6 billion US dollars, both of which were at a historically high level. In 2023, China's economy will continue to recover, its external resilience will be enhanced, and the scale of import and export of goods will rise quarter by quarter, supporting China's current account surplus to maintain a relatively large scale.
In addition, in 2023, China's services** deficit will be US$229.4 billion, showing an orderly recovery to pre-pandemic levels. On the one hand, travel and transportation are still the main deficit items of service**; On the other hand, the service** surplus project continued to grow.
She also mentioned that the net inflow of foreign equity direct investment in 2023 will be US$62.1 billion, and the scale of net inflow in the fourth quarter has increased significantly from the previous quarter. According to preliminary estimates, there was also a net inflow of investment in China last year, with the net inflow reaching a nearly two-year high in the fourth quarter, and the cumulative net increase of foreign holdings of domestic bonds from September to December exceeded US$60 billion. The above shows that more foreign investors are investing in China and allocating RMB assets. (ENDS).