Q：The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has just released the latest data on China's foreign exchange reserves. Could you explain why China's foreign exchange reserves changed in February 2020? What will be the future trends?

A: As at the end of February 2020, China's foreign exchange reserves hit USD 3.1067 trillion, down by USD 1.2 billion or 0.04% from the start of the year.

China's foreign exchange market stayed generally stable in February. Globally, due to the impact of the pandemic of COVID-19, economic conditions and money policy expectations in major countries, the US dollar index and bond prices in major countries hiked. As a result, a combination of valuation factors like foreign exchange rate conversion and asset price changes led to the changes in China's foreign exchange reserves for the month.

Going forward, the world economy will face more destabilizing factors and uncertainties, and global financial markets may become more volatile. Although the epidemic has had some impact on China's economic performance, yet in general China's economic fundamentals sustaining sound economic growth have not changed and the impact of COVID-19 will be short-lived and controllable. As policy measures are implemented, positive factors will accumulate to provide a strong support for the stable and healthy economic growth in China. With the favorable foundations and conditions for China's foreign exchange market to stay stable, China's foreign exchange reserves are expected to maintain general stability.