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SAFE to Promote Balance of Payments
The China State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) will make efforts to maintain the country's balance of international payments and the stability of the exchange rate, a senior SAFE official said.
Lu Nanping, vice director of SAFE, told the annual working conference of SAFE held this week that this year's work will focus on reinforcing foreign exchange administration and improving services, and making preparations for China's accession into the World Trade Organization.
Lu said that along with the gradual improvement of China's national economic environment, the country's international payments maintained a good development trend, the foreign exchange reserves increased and the RMB exchange rate remained stable.
Statistics show that by the end of last year, China's foreign exchange reserves reached US$165.57 billion, US$10.9 billion more than a year earlier; the exchange rate of RMB was one U.S. dollar against 8.278 RMB yuan, nearly the same as the end of the previous year.
Lu said that over the past five years China's foreign exchange administration has made significant progress in the following sectors:
The complete convertibility of RMB under constant account has been realized; market regulation has initially gained a leading role in foreign exchange resource distribution; an international payment reporting system has been established that conforms to international practices; a cautious practice has been continued in the capital account to ward off attacks by the Asian financial crisis; and related laws and regulations have been timely improved to promote the healthy development of foreign-related economy.
Lu said that this year SAFE will pay major attention to standardize and supervise foreign exchange payment activities in the service trade; use modern technologies to further improve administration of trade foreign exchange earnings; improve laws and regulations governing capital account foreign exchange administration.
Lu also said that his administration will make efforts to unify and standardize banks' foreign exchange settlement businesses; crack down upon practices of evading or swindling foreign exchange; and reinforce statistics and analysis of international payment and further improve monitoring and forewarning level.
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