China's forex, or foreign exchange, reserves have dropped for the first time in five years, a State Administration of Foreign Exchange official said.
China Daily reported Wednesday that at the end of September, the country's foreign exchange reserves peaked at $1.9 trillion.
The disclosure was made over the weekend at a meeting of China's import and export enterprises, UPI.com reported.
Head of the foreign debts section under the capital-account management department, Cai Qiusheng, did not say in which month, October or November, the forex reserves dropped under the $1.9-trillion level, nor did he disclose the current size of the forex reserves.
Yuan Yuedong, a senior researcher with the global financial market department of Bank of China said the reduction in foreign currency is not likely to harm the Chinese economy.
He said the downtrend in forex reserves was due to slower appreciation of the yuan and short-term depreciation against the U.S. dollar and possible increased offshore investment by Chinese companies.
"It's a big change, a real big change that China has to learn to handle," CNBC quoted Cui Yong, the managing director of Taugast, a Beijing-based private equity investment fund, as saying. "China is not going to raise interest rates, the economy is set to slow, so there are good reasons for short-term money to move out."
