Forex Reserves Shows Slight Hike in China 　　Forex reserves registered a slight growth in 1998 in China and the reminbi exchange rate remained stable throughout the year, according to the People's Bank of China. 　　The bank said that a US dollar was against 8.2789 yuan at the end of last year, a rise of 9 basic points over the end of l997 with a sustained stability of the reminbi exchange rate. By the end of last year, the forex reserves stood at about US$ 144.959 billion, US$ 5.069 billion more than at the end of 1997. In 1998, demand and supply was balanced in the forex markets at home and abroad. Forex deposits from residents and enterprises showed a substantial climb. 　　Since the beginning of last year, the Chinese government had taken a series of steps to beef up investment, enhance infrastructure construction and encourage export and the use of foreign funds and positive results had been yielded through reforms and the readjustment of policies. The balance of international payments remained in a better position in spite of the financial crisis in Asia and the unprecedented devastated deluge. 　　Data show that import/export trade totaled US$ 323.93 billion in l998, a fall of 0.4% from a year earlier. Of which export stood at US$183.76 billion, a rise of 0.5% with a trade surplus of US$ 43.59 billion showing a growth of 7.9%. 　　An authoritative official said that maintaining the renminbi exchange rate's stability and the scale of forex reserves has presented a striking task for forex administration for the current year. He added that the macroeconomic control has been operating well, there is a surplus in the balance of international payments, forex demand and supply is in equilibrium and ample forex reserves and the ability for controlling forex has been improved. He is confident that China is fully capable of not devaluating the renminbi. The official pledged to continue crackdown on an assortment of forex cheating and arbitrage and illegal forex selling and buying. TopNews 1999-02-17 Page1 Full Story in Chinese