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BEIJING : China's foreign reserves in 2004 soared to a record 609.9 billion dollars from 403.3 billion dollars in 2003 on the back of strong fund inflows and a burgeoning trade surplus, state press reported.
The official National Business Daily, a newspaper owned by party mouthpiece the Liberation Daily, reported the record 206.6-billion-dollar increase, citing unnamed officials at China's central bank.
In 2003, China's reserves rose by a then-record 160 billion dollars.
The mainland holds the world's second highest foreign currency reserves after Japan, which in December hit a record 844.54 billion dollars.
The sharp rise in China's 2004 reserves highlights the seriousness of the speculation on the currency, Yi Xianrong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Yi estimated that "hot money" or speculative cash coming into the mainland to bet that the yuan would be revalued probably accounted for about 120 billion dollars.
At the same time, China's booming economy pushed its 2004 trade surplus up 25.6 percent to 32 billion dollars, the highest level in six years.
- AFP
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