By ELAINE KURTENBACH
AP Business Writer
SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- China's foreign exchange reserves are fast approaching the US$1 trillion mark, swollen by the country's surging trade surplus, the central bank reported Friday.
China's foreign reserves, already the world's largest, reached US$987.9 billion (€788 billion) by the end of September, up 28.5 percent from a year earlier, the People's Bank of China said in its quarterly report.
The currency reserves have mounted steadily as Beijing buys dollars and other foreign currencies in an effort to control the value of its currency, the yuan, amid an export-driven influx of foreign money.
The central bank said China added US$169 billion to its reserves in the first nine months of this year. Its reserves had climbed to US$941 billion by the end of June. If they continue to rise at the current rate, they are likely to exceed US$1 trillion (€800 billion) within a month's time.
Analysts estimate that three-quarters of China's reserves are in U.S. Treasuries, reflecting the dominance of the dollar as a reserve currency.
By the end of September, China's global trade surplus was at US$110.9 billion (€88.5 billion) surpassing the annual record of US$102 billion set in 2005.
Robust exports and new lending have defied planners' efforts to rein in economic growth, projected at 10.5 percent for this year.
New loans by Chinese banks, a key measure of investment in construction and other infrastructure, totaled 2.76 trillion yuan (US$348.9 billion;€278 billion) by the end of September, the central bank said.
The central bank's target for new loans for the entire year was 2.5 trillion yuan (US$316 billion;€252 billion).
Meanwhile, the government announced that the country's outspoken top statistician, Qiu Xiaohua, was abruptly replaced seven months after his appointment.
Qiu, 48, was a 24-year veteran of the National Bureau of Statistics, frequently appearing when major data was announced to provide analysis of trends.
China has a long tradition of controversy over its economic statistics, given the tendency of local officials to manipulate data for political gain and the powerful weight such information carries in influencing policy decisions.
The official Xinhua News Agency gave no reason in its announcement of Qiu's dismissal.
"We don't know the reason why Qiu was replaced," an official at the Statistics Bureau's news department said Friday, speaking on customary condition he not be named.
The Shanghai-based newspaper Oriental Morning Post noted that Qiu suggested at a recent news conference that the government should not take further action to curb economic growth, though other top officials have said more measures may be needed.
In the past several years the Statistics Bureau has made numerous revisions of major data such as economic growth figures, citing updated or more complete information.
It was unclear if Qiu's departure was linked in any way to those revisions. His predecessor, Li Deshui, left after reaching retirement age and still holds several important posts, including a non-executive directorship at state-run China Petrochemical Corp., or Sinopec.
Leaders apparently preferred an outsider as Qiu's replacement. His successor, Xie Fuzhan, is an expert on macroeconomics and corporate reform from the Cabinet-run State Development Research Center who reportedly has never worked in the Statistics Bureau
