According to the Zhito Finance APP, on April 22, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange's statistics showed that in March 2025, Banks settled 1,360.1 billion yuan and sold 1,374.2 billion yuan. From January to March 2025, Banks cumulatively settled 3,796.5 billion yuan and sold 4,210 billion yuan. Measured in dollars, in March 2025, Banks settled 189.6 billion dollars and sold 191.6 billion dollars. From January to March 2025, Banks cumulatively settled 529 billion dollars and sold 586.6 billion dollars.

The original text is as follows:

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange announced the data on Banks' settlement and sale of foreign exchange and Banks' foreign payment and receipt data for March 2025.

The statistics from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed that in March 2025, Banks settled 1,360.1 billion yuan and sold 1,374.2 billion yuan. From January to March 2025, Banks cumulatively settled 3,796.5 billion yuan and sold 4,210 billion yuan.

Measured in dollars, in March 2025, Banks settled 189.6 billion dollars and sold 191.6 billion dollars. From January to March 2025, Banks cumulatively settled 529 billion dollars and sold 586.6 billion dollars.

In March 2025, Banks' foreign income was 4,964.3 billion yuan, while foreign payments were 4,611.4 billion yuan. From January to March 2025, Banks' cumulative foreign income was 13,541.8 billion yuan, and cumulative foreign payments were 13,171.3 billion yuan.

Measured in dollars, in March 2025, Banks' foreign income was 692 billion dollars, while foreign payments were 642.8 billion dollars. From January to March 2025, Banks' cumulative foreign income was 1,887.1 billion dollars, and cumulative foreign payments were 1,835.4 billion dollars.

Li Bin, Deputy Director and Spokesperson of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, answered journalists' questions regarding the foreign exchange revenue and expenditure situation in the first quarter of 2025.

Recently, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange released the data on bank forex trading and foreign-related payments and receipts for March 2025. Li Bin, Deputy Director and Spokesperson of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, answered journalists' questions regarding the foreign exchange revenue and expenditure situation in the first quarter of 2025.

Question: How has the operation of China's foreign exchange market been since the beginning of this year?

Answer: Since the beginning of this year, the external environment has undergone profound changes, with increased volatility in the international financial markets and heightened risks and challenges. China is accelerating the construction of a new development pattern, effectively promoting high-quality development, and implementing a more proactive and effective macro policy, which has successfully addressed external challenges, leading to a sustained recovery and improvement in the economy, with the foreign exchange market operating generally stable. Three main characteristics have emerged:

First, the RMB exchange rate fluctuates bidirectionally, maintaining relative stability. As of April 21, the onshore RMB to USD spot exchange rate (CNY) was 7.288, appreciating 0.1% compared to the end of 2024. Since April, unilateral and protectionist actions from the US have triggered significant fluctuations in the international financial market, with the RMB to USD exchange rate initially depreciating before rising, roughly aligning with the level prior to the US announcement on April 3 regarding so-called 'reciprocal tariffs' on trade partners. The bidirectional fluctuation of the RMB exchange rate is a normal market change and reflects the supporting role of economic fundamentals on the exchange rate.

Second, foreign exchange market trading is rational and orderly, with KUAJINGZIJIN showing a net inflow. The difference in bank forex trading is gradually tending towards balance, with a slight deficit of 2 billion USD in March. Demand for forex from enterprises and other entities has retreated, with the forex purchase willingness rate (the ratio of bank customer forex purchases to foreign-related forex expenditures) in March being 64.4%, down nearly 11 percentage points from the high in January. The market's willingness to convert to forex is generally stable, with the conversion rate in March remaining about the same as in January. In the first quarter, KUAJINGZIJIN from non-bank sectors such as enterprises and individuals showed a net inflow of 51.7 billion USD, remaining at a relatively high level for the same period. Since April, foreign exchange market trading has remained stable, and KUAJINGZIJIN continues to show a net inflow with a slight surplus in bank forex trading.

Third, the cross-border capital flow in major channels is stable and orderly. First, the net inflow of trade in goods has increased rapidly. In the first quarter, China’s foreign trade demonstrated strong resilience in overcoming external pressures, with a net inflow of 206.3 billion USD under goods trade, a year-on-year increase of 1.2 times. Second, there has been an increase in foreign investment in RMB Bonds. From February to March, foreign investors have net increased their holdings of domestic bonds by 26.9 billion USD, up 84% year-on-year, with a net purchase of 33.2 billion USD from April 1 to 18, maintaining a high scale. Third, the overall outflow of profits from foreign-funded enterprises in service trade has been stable. In the first quarter, the net outflow of cross-border capital in service trade increased by 25% year-on-year, with a 12% increase in outflow under travel. Profits repatriation from foreign-funded enterprises is at a seasonal low, down 7% year-on-year.

Question: What is the assessment of the future trend of China's foreign exchange market?

Answer: Looking ahead, despite the instability of the external environment and increasing uncertainties, China is accelerating the implementation of more proactive and effective macro policies, taking timely action to ensure the implementation of various policies, with many economic advantages, strong resilience, and great potential, which will continue to support the stable running of the Forex market.

Firstly, the economic operation in China has started well, significantly boosting market confidence. Since the beginning of this year, China has intensified macro policy adjustments, deploying and implementing more proactive fiscal policies and moderately loose monetary policies, as well as formulating and implementing special action plans to boost consumer spending, leading to a stable economic start and a continued upward trend. In the first quarter, China's economy grew by 5.4% year-on-year and 1.2% quarter-on-quarter. Domestic demand is expanding, the year-on-year growth rate of retail sales of consumer goods and fixed asset investment has accelerated by 1.1 and 1.0 percentage points respectively compared to the entire year of 2024. In March, China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) was 50.5%, remaining in the prosperity range for two consecutive months. In the future, China will timely introduce new incremental policies based on situational needs, regard expanding domestic demand as a long-term strategy, and promote the integrated development of technological innovation and industrial innovation, thus supporting the stability of the RMB exchange rate and the steady running of the Forex market.

Secondly, China continues to expand its opening up, actively stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment, which helps maintain a basic balance in international payments. In terms of foreign trade, in recent years, Chinese foreign trade enterprises have actively explored diversified markets and steadily promoted regional economic and trade cooperation. In 2024, China's import and export volume with ASEAN and Belt and Road Initiative Concept countries accounted for 15.9% and 50.3% respectively, increasing by 3.4 and 23.8 percentage points compared to 2017. Chinese enterprises are quickly responding to the diversified demands of the global market, accelerating the cultivation of new foreign trade models, promoting the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing, continuously breaking through key core technologies, enhancing foreign trade competitiveness, and strengthening the industry chain supply chain. In terms of foreign investment, in February this year, the state introduced the "2025 Action Plan for Stabilizing Foreign Investment," providing a favorable business environment for foreign investments in China. At the same time, China is steadily expanding financial market openness, widening KUAJINGZIJIN channels, enhancing the diversified asset allocation functions of the RMB, and the domestic securities market is expected to continue to attract foreign investments.

Thirdly, the resilience of China's Forex market has improved, enhancing its ability to withstand external shocks. In recent years, the mechanism of market-driven RMB exchange rate formation has been continuously improved, and exchange rate flexibility has been enhanced. At the same time, enterprises are actively using Forex derivatives to manage exchange rate risks and are increasingly utilizing cross-border RMB settlement to reduce currency mismatch risks. In the first quarter of 2025, the proportion of cross-border RMB receipts and payments in goods trade and the rate of foreign exchange hedging among enterprises have both improved compared to the previous year, enhancing enterprises' ability to cope with exchange rate fluctuations, and making market expectations and transactions more rational and orderly.

Next, the Forex management department will continue to strengthen monitoring of the Forex situation, maintain exchange rate flexibility, effectively play the role of exchange rate adjustment as a macroeconomic and international payment automatic stabilizer, while continuously enriching the macro-prudential management toolbox for cross-border capital flows, resolutely correcting pro-cyclical behaviors in the market, preventing the risk of excessive exchange rate adjustments, avoiding abnormal cross-border capital flows, and maintaining national economic and financial security.

This article is selected from: The State Administration of Foreign Exchange website; Edited by Zhitong Finance: Chen Xiaoyi.