China says it's confident about the stability of its currency and its economy, although the global financial crisis has not hit bottom yet. The deputy head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Deng Xianhong, gave the assessment at a press conference on Wednesday.
The global financial crunch has taken a toll on China's economy, which slowed to single-digit growth last year.
According to Deng Xianhong, growth of foreign exchange reserves has also slowed.
He said the reserves increased by roughly 280 billion US dollars in the first half of last year.
But the second half of 2008 saw the increase drop by about half that.
And there's also speculation the Chinese Yuan may be appreciated sometime in the future.
But though the country's coffers are filling more slowly, Deng's confident about the stability of both the yuan and the economy.
Deng Xianhong, deputy head of State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said, "In terms of the situation on the balance of payments, although there are still tough challenges facing the country's economy, I think the economic development in China is regaining its power. The fundamentals of China's economy haven't changed. The country has strong market potential, abundant labor forces, a stable financial system and a large amount of foreign exchange reserves. And the situation on the country's foreign exchange reserves is improving. The surplus in the China's balance of payments has been changed from rapid increase to stable growth."
Deng Xianhong also cited a series of measures to help improve the balance of payments. He says they include strengthening the monitoring of the revenues and expenditures of foreign exchange, and improving the management of foreign exchange reserves for the convenience of Chinese enterprises investing overseas.
(Source: CCTV.com)
