China forex reserves hit $3 trillion 

China's foreign exchange reserves rose 24.4 percent year-on-year to $3.044 trillion by the end of March, said the People's Bank of China on Thursday, adding to what is already the world's largest stockpile of foreign exchange reserves.

The central bank had previously reported its reserves stood at $2.847 trillion at the end of 2010.

Currency holdings rose by about $197.4 billion in the first quarter of this year, despite the $1.02 billion trade deficit posted by China for the quarter. This growth implies a large influx of "hot money," short-term speculative funds in search of quick profits.

Exchange-rate swings also affect the value of the reserves, said Vice Minister of Finance Li Yong in an article published Tuesday. U.S. dollar assets account for 70 percent of China's foreign exchange reserves, and euro assets for 20 percent. Depreciation of both the U.S. dollar and the euro is causing capital losses of China's forex reserves.

Chinese gold reserves stood at 33.89 million ounces at the end of March.

China overtook Japan to become the world's biggest holder of foreign exchange reserves in 2006 after its stockpile grew to $1.066 trillion. The reserves jumped to $2.13 trillion in 2009.

央行昨天公布的數據顯示，2011年3月末，國家外匯儲備余額為30447億美元，同比增長24.4%，我國外匯儲備首次突破3萬億美元大關，繼續穩坐全球外匯儲備第一大國位置。

對比2010年末外匯儲備28473億美元，今年一季度我國外匯儲備單季增加高達1974億美元。一季度我國出現10.2億美元的貿易逆差, 專家認為，一季度外匯儲備激增表明熱錢流入較多。

目前我國外匯儲備以美元和歐元資產為主，其中有約70%為美元資產。財政部副部長李勇近日撰文指出，歐元和美元貶值已使我國外匯儲備出現賬面虧損。

此外，一季度末，我國外匯儲備中的黃金儲備數量未發生變化，依然持有3389萬盎司的黃金儲備。

2006年2月底，我國首次超過日本，位居全球第一。同年10月，我國外匯儲備首次突破1萬億美元大關。2009年6月，外匯儲備突破2萬億美元，此后不到一年時間，外匯儲備增長到3萬億美元。