China’s foreign exchange market maintained stable operations in July despite a complex and changing external environment, with cross-border capital flows rising and bank forex settlement posting a surplus, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said Monday.
Li Bin, deputy administrator and spokesperson of SAFE, said that since July, the external environment has grown increasingly complex with rising geopolitical uncertainties, and international financial markets have continued to show fluctuations.
China’s forex market remained stable, with steady expansion in cross-border receipts and payments, generally stable market expectations, and rational and orderly forex trading, Li noted.
In July, banks settled 1.8097 trillion yuan, or 266.3 billion in the U.S. dollar terms, in foreign exchange and sold 1.6856 trillion yuan, or 248.0 billion in the U.S. terms, resulting in a surplus of 18.3 billion U.S. dollars, according to SAFE data.
From January to July, cumulative settlements reached 12.6020 trillion yuan, with forex sales totaling 10.6048 trillion yuan. In the U.S. dollar terms, the number stood at 1.8316 trillion and 1.5422 trillion, respectively.
Cross-border receipts and payments by non-bank sectors, including businesses and individuals, totaled 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars in July, up 20 percent year on year, while the forex market turnover reached 4.3 trillion U.S. dollars, an 8-percent increase, the data showed.
Net cross-border capital inflows by non-bank sectors stood at 59.8 billion U.S. dollars in July, with net inflows from goods trade remaining high, while outflows from services trade and foreign-funded enterprise dividend distributions stayed stable.
China’s forex market stable in July as cross-border flows expand
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that there is a backchannel for talks between the United States and the IRGC.
In an interview with the semi-official Tasnim news agency, IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi called Trump’s claim a “delusion,” saying no dialogue is taking place between IRGC officials and the Americans.
Even Iran’s diplomatic apparatus is not currently negotiating with the United States owing to American’s “breach of promises,” Mohebbi added.
Separately, at Monday’s press conference, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei denied media reports of unofficial contact between the U.S. and the IRGC via Iraqi Kurdistan officials and an alleged secret U.S.-Iran meeting in Erbil.
The reports are “media techniques and psychological operations used to sow discord among Iran’s decision-making bodies,” Baghaei said.
Trump told Fox News earlier Monday that his administration maintains a direct backchannel with Iran’s IRGC officials, saying that he is “not in a hurry” to resolve the Iran issue and has set no new deadline for Tehran.
Separately, Trump posted on social media the same day that the U.S.’s top priority is — and will always be — ensuring that Iran does not possess nuclear weapons “in any way, shape or form.”
Iran’s IRGC rejects Trump’s claim of backchannel talks
