Sensitive financial data ‘missing’ from central bank report on capital flowing out of China’s slowing economy
Information on forex purchases missing from the People’s Bank of China’s list of financial figures as Beijing tries to stabilise the yuan exchange rate
Sensitive data is missing from a regular Chinese central bank report amid concerns about capital outflow as the economy slows and the yuan weakens.
Financial analysts say the sudden lack of clear information makes it hard for markets to assess the scale of capital flows out of China as well as the central bank’s foreign exchange operations in the banking system.
READ MORE: China foreign-exchange reserves drop as PBOC supports yuan
Figures on the “position for forex purchase” are regularly published in the People’s Bank of China’s monthly report on the “Sources and Uses of Credit Funds of Financial Institutions”. The December reading in foreign currencies was US$250 billion.
But the data was missing in the central bank’s latest report. It seemed the information had been merged into the “other items” category, whose January figure was US$243.9 billion – a surge from US$20.4 billion the previous month.
Another key item of potentially sensitive financial data was altered in the latest report.