China Reserves to Pass $2 Trillion; Russias Fall: Chart of Day
2008-11-28 02:19:37.630 GMT
By Lee J. Miller and Zhang Dingmin
Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Chinas foreign-exchange reserves may top $2 trillion for the first time by the end of this year, giving the worlds most-populous nation more firepower to stimulate its economy during a global recession.
Chinas holdings increased 25 percent in the first nine months of the year to stand at $1.906 trillion on Sept. 30.
Reserves shrank in Japan and Russia, the nations with the second- and third-largest stockpiles. Russia drained a quarter of its currency and gold assets in less than four months to prop up the ruble, which has dropped 14 percent since June 30.
The CHART OF THE DAY compares the reserves of China, Japan and Russia, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and comments from government officials. The $2 trillion milestone will hopefully be reached this year, Yao Jingyuan, chief economist for the National Bureau of Statistics, said yesterday.
China has been building liquidity with reserves increasing by more than $470 billion this year, Morgan Stanley said in a report. As China goes, so will go Asia.
China reported a record $35.2 billion trade surplus last month. Its reserves surpassed those of Japan for the top spot in January 2006.
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--With reporting by Emma OBrien in Moscow. Editors: Garfield Reynolds, Sandy Hendry.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Lee J. Miller in Bangkok at +662-654-7306 or lmiller@bloomberg.net; Zhang Dingmin in Beijing at +86-10-6535-2334 or Dzhang14@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Bruce Grant at +852-2977-6452 or bruceg@bloomberg.net
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