Trade surplus growth has not been matched in foreign exchange reserves – a gap analysts said can be explained by private sector outflows.

Recent data on China’s external accounts presents a conundrum: while the country’s trade surplus has broken records, surpassing the US$1 trillion benchmark in the first 11 months of the year, growth in its official foreign exchange reserves has lagged. This seeming paradox prompts a question – where did the money go? Analysts said the gap reflects how much of the surplus has flowed back overseas through asset investment, largely made by private-sector players, leaving China’s external accounts…

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