China's central bank said on Tuesday that the country's foreign exchange reserves surged to US$1.9056 trillion by the end of September this year.

The latest figure represented an increase of 32.92 percent from the same period last year, the People's Bank of China said in a report published on its web site.

A total of US$377.3 billion were added to the country's foreign exchange reserve in the first three quarters, said the central bank.

The country's forex reserve was reported at US$1.53 trillion by the end of 2007, up 47.7 percent over a year earlier.

In September alone, the forex reserve rose by US$21.4 billion.

China's soaring trade surplus is a major contributing factor to the forex reserve boom.

The General Administration of Customs said a day earlier the country's trade surplus reached to US$180.9 billion in the first three quarters, which narrowed 2.6 percent from a year earlier.

(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2008)