China’s current account surplus hits $240 billion in 9 months

China posted a current account surplus of 1.713 trillion yuan (about 240 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters of the year.

Data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange yesterday showed that the current account surplus-to-GDP ratio stood at 1.8 percent during the period, maintaining a reasonable and balanced range, while cross-border capital flows were generally stable.

The current account surplus in the third quarter alone stood at 1.0441 trillion yuan. From January to September, China’s goods trade surplus stood at 518.2 billion U.S. dollars, up 17 percent year on year, while trade in services posted a deficit of 181.4 billion U.S. dollars.

As for foreign direct investment, direct investment in both directions remained stable, with China’s outward equity direct investment seeing net inflows of 98.7 billion U.S. dollars, with many companies expanding overseas in an orderly manner.

The inward equity direct investment includes US$60 billion in new capital inflows, and the country’s balance of payments is mainly divided into two major categories: the current account and the capital and financial account.

The current account is closely related to transactions in the real economy, and its balance is a commonly used benchmark in international economic analysis.

China has maintained a current account surplus for many years in a row, and since 2011, the current account surplus to GDP ratio has always been below 3%.