中國外儲符合流動性標準 China defends veracity of foreign exchange reserves data

China's official foreign exchange reserves only include highly liquid assets, a top central banker said on Sunday, seeking to reassure investors that authorities have enough ammunition to prevent a sharp fall in the renminbi.

中國央行高官週日表示，中國的官方外匯儲備只包括高流動性資產。此言意在讓投資者放心：中國當局有足夠彈藥阻止人民幣大幅下跌。

Investor sentiment towards China's currency has turned sharply negative since a surprise devaluation in August, amid unprecedented capital outflows and concern about the health of the economy. Concern over China's currency policy sparked a global market sell-off early this year.

自去年8月人民幣意外貶值以來，在中國遭遇空前的資本外流、各方對中國經濟健康狀況感到擔憂的情況下，投資者對人民幣的情緒已明顯轉向負面。在今年初，圍繞中國匯率政策的擔憂曾引發一輪全球市場拋售。

The People's Bank of China has drawn on its foreign exchange reserves to curb renminbi weakness, but analysts believe the central bank may soon be forced to abandon this policy to prevent reserves dropping below dangerous levels.

中國人民銀行(PBoC)近期動用其外匯儲備遏制人民幣疲弱，但分析師們相信，央行可能很快被迫放棄這一政策，以免外匯儲備降至危險水平。

Some bearish investors have also expressed scepticism about the reliability of China's official foreign exchange reserves data, which showed reserves at $3.2tn at the end of January — still the world's largest despite declining for 19 months.

一些悲觀投資者還對中國官方外匯儲備數據的可靠性表示懷疑。根據官方數據，1月底中國外匯儲備爲3.2萬億美元，在連續19個月下降後仍是世界上最大的。

Sceptics say the headline total of reserves exaggerates the resources available to support the renminbi since they suspect it includes illiquid assets such as foreign real estate and private-equity investments that cannot be readily deployed in currency markets.

懷疑論者表示，整體儲備數據誇大了可用來支持人民幣匯率的資源，因爲他們懷疑該數據包括非流動性資產，如海外房地產和私募股權投資，此類資產不容易投入匯市。

Kyle Bass, the US hedge fund manager who has wagered billions that the renminbi and other Asian currencies will fall, believes China's true reserves are more than $1tn below the government's official total. Veteran investor George Soros has also suggested the renminbi may fall further.

豪賭人民幣和其他亞洲貨幣將下跌的美國對衝基金經理凱爾•巴斯(Kyle Bass)相信，中國的真實外匯儲備低於政府發佈的官方數字，兩者相差超過1萬億美元。投資老手喬治•索羅斯(George Soros)也提出，人民幣可能進一步下跌。

Yi Gang, PBoC deputy governor who until January was also head of the foreign exchange regulator, said on Sunday that only highly liquid assets are included in the closely watched headline reserves figure.

中國人民銀行副行長、直到1月還兼任國家外匯管理局(SAFE)局長的易綱週日表示，受到密切關注的整體外匯儲備數據只包括高流動性資產。

"I can clearly tell everyone here, those assets that don't meet liquidity standards are entirely deducted from official foreign exchange reserves," Mr Yi said at a press conference on the sidelines of an annual parliament meeting in Beijing.

“我清楚的告訴大家，這些不符合流動性標準的資產全部扣除在官方外匯儲備外，比如不流動的股權投資、注資、流動性不好的。”易綱在北京舉行的全國政協會議間隙的一個記者會上表示。

"For example, some illiquid equity investments, some capital injections and some other assets where liquidity isn't good are entirely outside our foreign exchange reserves."

除了海外房地產和私募股權投資外，分析師們質疑央行近期動用外匯向國有政策性銀行的注資——包括去年向中國國家開發銀行(CDB)和中國進出口銀行(Export-Import Bank of China)注入至少930億美元——是否已被扣掉。

Beyond foreign real estate and private equity, analysts have questioned whether PBoC's recent use of foreign currency to inject capital into state-owned policy banks, including at least $93bn injected into China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China last year. There is also uncertainty about whether China's capital contributions to two newly launched multilateral development banks, the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Brics bank, have been deducted.

此外，對於中國向兩家新成立的多邊開發銀行——亞洲基礎設施投資銀行(AIIB)和金磚國家新開發銀行(New Development Bank)——的出資是否已被扣掉也不確定。

China's central bank last year agreed to more stringent disclosure requirements under International Monetary Fund guidelines known as the Special Data Dissemination Standard.

中國央行去年同意遵守國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)的更嚴格披露要求——數據公佈特殊標準(SDDS)。

"This liquidity classification is conducted strictly according to the IMF's standard. So the official foreign exchange reserves data that we currently report definitely meets liquidity standards. Those non-liquid assets definitely aren't included in what we report."

“這是嚴格根據國際貨幣基金組織標準劃分的。現在公佈的官方外匯儲備一定是符合流動性標準的，不流動的資產不包括在現在公佈的外匯儲備之內。”

China will release February reserves data on Monday.

中國定於週一發佈2月外匯儲備數據。