China Foreign-Exchange Reserves Rise for the 11th Straight Month

China's foreign-exchange reserves grew for the 11th straight month in December, hitting the highest level since end-September 2016, official data showed Sunday.

The reserves increased by $20.67 billion from the previous month to $3.140 trillion at the end of December, following a gain of $10.06 billion in November, the People's Bank of China said. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected a rise of $5 billion.

Beijing tightened rules on moving money out of the country in 2017, which helped limit capital outflows. Renewed firmness in the yuan against other currencies, including the U.S. dollar, has also reduced the need for the central bank to burn through reserves to prop up the Chinese currency.

In December, the yuan rose more than 1% against dollar, bringing its gains against the U.S. currency in 2017 to more than 6%.

Write to Liyan Qi at liyan.qi@wsj.com

BEIJING--China's foreign-exchange reserves grew for the 11th straight month in December, hitting the highest level since end-September 2016, official data showed Sunday.

The reserves increased by $20.67 billion from the previous month to $3.140 trillion at the end of December, following a gain of $10.06 billion in November, the People's Bank of China said. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected a rise of $5 billion.

Beijing tightened rules on moving money out of the country in 2017, which helped limit capital outflows. Renewed firmness in the yuan against other currencies, including the U.S. dollar, has also reduced the need for the central bank to burn through reserves to prop up the Chinese currency.

In December, the yuan rose more than 1% against dollar, bringing its gains against the U.S. currency in 2017 to more than 6%.

Write to Liyan Qi at liyan.qi@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 07, 2018 02:36 ET (07:36 GMT)