Measures taken by Beijing to stem capital flight proved partially effective in December as China’s foreign exchange reserves continued to fall but at a slower pace than in previous months.
The central bank announced a lower than expected drop in foreign exchange reserves for last month, which fell by $41bn to $3.01tn. A Reuters poll of analysts predicted a $51bn fall for the month after reserves came down by $70bn in November.
The People’s Bank of China has been anxious to slow the depreciation of the renminbi, which fell 6.6 per cent last year against the dollar. But simply selling off dollars to defend the currency has been expensive — reserves in 2016 fell from $3.3tn to just above $3tn.