Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Jul 27, 2025

China taps financial tools to slow yuan’s surge against the dollar

China taps financial tools to slow yuan’s surge against the dollar

China unleashed tools from its foreign exchange arsenal this week to tame the yuan’s rise against the US dollar, but economists say Beijing faces an uphill battle long term.

China dug deeper into its bag of tricks this week to slow the rise of the yuan against the US dollar, but it faces an uphill battle as the American currency weakens and money pours into the country following its strong post-pandemic recovery.

On Tuesday, the government granted new quotas to domestic financial institutions allowing them to invest overseas under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) programme.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), the nation’s foreign exchange regulator, approved US$10.3 billion worth of QDII quotas for 17 financial institutions, the largest batch since it resumed granting new quotas in September last year.

By allowing greater capital outflows, it will increase demand for foreign currencies, putting downward pressure on the yuan.

The move came a day after the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) raised the amount of money that financial institutions must hold in reserve for their foreign exchange deposits, which analysts estimated would wipe US$20 billion from the foreign exchange market when the rule comes into effect on June 15.

The new measures appear to have had the intended effect, halting the yuan’s rise against the US dollar. The yuan-US dollar exchange was 6.39 on Thursday afternoon, weakening from 6.36 on Monday.

A higher yuan exchange rate figure means it takes more yuan to purchase one US dollar, indicating a weaker Chinese currency

Still, Beijing will have a tough time controlling appreciation of the yuan in the face of a weakening US dollar, large capital inflows due to China’s strong economic fundamentals, and constraints on its ability to intervene in the market given increased US scrutiny as trade talks resume.

“It is a trend for Chinese residents and corporations to allocate their assets overseas. It has been accelerated given the huge inflows and the fast yuan appreciation,” said Ding Shuang, chief Greater China economist at Standard Chartered Bank.

In recent years, Beijing has strictly managed capital flows, given the exodus of money from the country after the stock market crash of 2015. China used up almost US$1 trillion of its foreign exchange reserves in the following two years to control the value of the yuan.

However, capital controls started to ease in the second half of last year, when foreign investors scrambled to buy Chinese stocks and bonds because of the country’s effective coronavirus pandemic control and quick economic recovery.

In May, inflows into Chinese equities reached US$11.3 billion, according to the International Institute of Finance. Foreign investors increased their holdings of Chinese bonds by 73.1 billion yuan (US$11.45 billion) in April, with the outstanding total reaching 3.8 per cent of the market size, an increase of 0.32 per cent from last year.

“What worries Beijing most is the momentum of quick appreciation and the one-way bet [on a further rise],” Ding said.

The market now expects Beijing to soon approve the launch of the so-called southbound leg Bond Connect and Wealth Management Connect scheme, which will allow mainlanders to invest in stocks and bonds in Hong Kong, he said.

SAFE has so far approved a total QDII quota of US$147.3 billion, US$43.3 billion of which has been granted since last September.

Chinese securities investment overseas reached US$900 billion at the end of last year, including US$409.1 billion in Hong Kong, US$178.4 billion in the United States and US$21.5 billion in Britain, SAFE data showed.

Beijing has also kept up its campaign to talk down the yuan exchange rate, with the official Xinhua News Agency again warning against speculative trading on Wednesday.

Beijing’s use of alternative methods to curb the yuan’s rise come amid increased scrutiny from the Biden administration of China’s opaque exchange rate mechanism as high-level trade talks resume between the world’s two biggest economies, analysts have said.

China promised to refrain from manipulating the yuan’s exchange rate for competitive advantage as part of the phase one trade deal signed with the US last year.

But Washington is concerned Chinese state-owned banks might be acting as proxies for the central bank to intervene in the market.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
×