China's forex reserves down to $3.201 trillion in July

Beijing: China's foreign exchange reserves, the highest in the world, dropped to USD 3.201 trillion at the end of last month, down from June's USD 3.205 trillion amid concerns over capital outflows.

The data announced by central bank, the People's Bank of China was basically in line with market expectations after an unexpected rise surprised investors in June.

China began to see a falling trend in its forex reserves in November 2015 due to concerns over a weak yuan and capital outflow, but the reserves returned to growth in March as fears eased amid signs of stabilising economic growth, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

China's reserves, the largest in the world, fell to USD 3.19 trillion in May, the lowest level in nearly five years.

Forex reserves denominated in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), an international reserve asset, rose to 2.297 trillion SDRs in July from 2.291 trillion in the previous month, the data showed.

China's official gold reserves stood at USD 78.89 billion in July, up from USD 77.43 billion in June, the data said.