China forex settlement surplus narrows in 2014

China continued to see a surplus in its foreign exchange settlement in 2014, but the volume narrowed significantly, indicating easing capital inflows to the country, official data showed on Thursday.

Chinese lenders bought 1.9 trillion U.S. dollars' worth of foreign currency last year and sold 1.77 trillion U.S. dollars, resulting in a net buy of 125.8 billion U.S. dollars, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement.

This marked a 53-percent drop from the surplus seen a year earlier, said Guan Tao, director of the International Balance of Payment Department of SAFE, at a press briefing.

Notably, after registering surplus in the first two quarters of 2014, the foreign exchange settlement swung to a deficit in the third quarter and saw the deficit widening to 46.5 billion U.S. dollars during the October-December period, fanning concerns of massive capitals flowing out of China as the economy slowed.

Guan attributed the fluctuations to the U.S. QE tapering that led to capital flowing out of emerging markets, as well as investors' cautious sentiment towards China's slowing expansion.x "The current adjustment is moderate and within the limit," he noted.

Data out on Tuesday showed China's economy grew 7.4 percent in 2014, the weakest annual expansion in 24 years as the country is bracing the new normal period of slower growth of higher quality. Endi