BEIJING: China’s capital account deficit continued to widen in the third quarter of the year while the country’s reserve assets dropped sharply, official figures showed yesterday.
The deficit under the capital and financial account rose to US$63.4 billion for the three months ending in September, up from US$40.6 billion in the second quarter, according to preliminary statistics released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.
Reserve assets, most of which are foreign exchange reserves, decreased US$160.5 billion, compared with an increase of US$13.1 billion in the second quarter.
On August 11, the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, decided to let the market have a greater voice in calculating the yuan’s central parity rate against the US dollar, which led to a depreciation of more than 4 percent in August.
