China posted bigger surpluses in its current, capital and financial accounts in the first quarter of this year than it previously estimated, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said on its website Monday.

The SAFE said in its statement China's current-account surplus totaled US$53.6 billion in the first three months, up from the US$40.9 billion it estimated May 14.

The modified current-account surplus was 32 percent lower than the previous year's figure, compared with the May 14 estimate of a 48 percent year-on-year decrease.

Capital- and financial-account surpluses were lifted to US$64.2 billion in the first quarter after the revisions, compared with US$55 billion the SAFE estimated on May 14.

China posted a capital- and financial-account deficit of US$12.8 billion in the same period of last year.

In the statement, the foreign exchange regulator did not provide an explanation for the increase after the revisions.

Under China's current account, the merchandise trade surplus was upwardly revised to US$30.3 billion, from US$29.4 billion in the May 14 statistics, according to the revised Balance of International Payments statement posted on the SAFE website.

China ran a US$18-billion services trade deficit during the same period, the statement said.

Net foreign direct investment (FDI) flows were revised down to US$15.5 billion from US$17.5 billion.

The foreign exchange regulator did not update the figure for China's foreign exchange reserves on Monday.

China's foreign exchange reserves hit a record high of US$2.4471 trillion at the end of March, up 25.25 percent year on year, according to the last released statistics.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2010)