China’s forex reserves rise more than expected
BEIJING—China’s foreign exchange reserves rose more than expected in February, central bank data showed on Friday, as the dollar weakness persists.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves, the world’s largest, increased $18 billion last month to $3.227 trillion, beating a Reuters forecast of $3.222 trillion, rising from $3.209 trillion in January.
The yuan rose 0.45 percent against the dollar in February, while the dollar weakened 0.86 percent against a basket of other major currencies.
Meanwhile, China’s imports also unexpectedly shrank over the January-February period, while exports lost momentum, as escalating tariff pressures from the United States cast a shadow over the recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.
Workers in China also downed tools for the Lunar New Year festival and Trump’s first Feb. 4 tariff deadline hit exporters who had been front-loading shipments to get ahead of the curbs.
