China's current account surplus continues

China's current account surplus in the second quarter reached 72.2 billion U.S dollars, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on Wednesday.

The goods trade surplus hit 109 billion U.S. dollars, but the service trade posted a deficit of 29.6 billion U.S. dollars.

A surplus of capital and financial accounts totalled 36.9 billion U.S. dollars in the April-June period. Net inflows of direct investment amounted to 40.3 billion U.S. dollars.

Due to the surpluses, China's international reserve assets increased by 35.3 billion U.S. dollars. Among the assets, foreign exchange reserve assets (excluding the influence of exchange rates and prices) rose by 35.7 billion U.S. dollars. Special drawing rights and the reserve position in the International Monetary Fund saw a drop of 300 million U.S. dollars.

For the first half year, the current account surplus was 79.3 billion U.S. dollars while the capital and financial account stood at 81.5 billion U.S. dollars, resulting in an increase of 160.8 billion U.S. dollars in international reserve assets.

The country has witnessed quarterly surpluses in both accounts -- the current account and the capital and financial account -- since the final quarter of 2012. This may add to appreciation pressure on the yuan and incur problems from international speculative capital inflow. Endi