China's build up of FX reserves
China's foreign exchange reserves rose by $154bn during the first quarter, a record even by the country's own impressive standards. Yet there are some clues that this may understate the build up of foreign assets, in turn suggesting “hot money” flows into China have accelerated and that holding down the exchange rate is getting harder.
China has not yet published a full set of current and capital accounts for the first quarter. That leaves the reserves number as the best proxy. There are two reasons to believe that it understates the position. First, the People's Bank of China is transferring funds to China Investment Corp, the fledgeling sovereign wealth fund with a $200bn kitty. The timing is unclear, but economists estimate that up to $100bn of that target could have been shifted to CIC in the first quarter.
Second, the PBoC's accounts give some clues that further piles of foreign exchange are being parked at commercial banks. “Other foreign assets”, a line item on the central bank's accounts that has barely budged in four years, began rising in August last year. Anecdotal evidence suggests commercial banks may be meeting PBoC reserve requirements by accumulating foreign currency. Stone & McCarthy estimate that 75 per cent of the rise in reserve requirements may have been dollar denominated. On that basis, reserve hikes in January and March meant about $42.5bn further accumulation of foreign assets in the first quarter.
There are other complicating factors. It is unclear, for example, how much marked-to-market gains are included in the reserves figure. But all in, the actual rate of reserves accumulation in the first quarter might be up to $100bn higher than the published number suggests. There is reason to be spooked by this. Rising hot money inflows, which are largely a bet on renminbi appreciation, show that Beijing's capital controls are inadequate. Already China's claims on the US equate to about one-third of China's gross domestic product, estimates economist Brad Setser. How much longer it can accumulate foreign assets to absorb inflows is questionable.