THE country’s foreign exchange reserves fell in February following 12 consecutive months of rises, official data showed Wednesday.

Forex reserves came in at US$3.134 trillion in February, down US$26.98 billion from a month earlier, according to data from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).

The amount was below market forecasts of US$3.16 trillion.

A statement from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) attributed the decrease to weaker nondollar currencies and retreating global asset prices.

But cross-border capital flows and transactions remained generally stable in February, with balanced supply and demand in the forex market, it said.

China’s forex stockpile has increased steadily since February 2017 after dipping below US$3 trillion in January, as the economy got on a firmer footing and the yuan continued to stabilize.

SAFE said a trend had been “initially formed” indicating two-way and generally balanced cross-border capital flows.

With the domestic economy stabilizing and global recovery improving, the Chinese currency will remain basically stable at a reasonable level to create favorable conditions for balanced capital flows in the long run, according to SAFE.

The PBOC data showed that the country’s gold reserves remained unchanged at 59.24 million ounces, and valued at US$78.1 billion. (Xinhua)