China’s commercial banks acquired a net $289.4 billion in foreign exchange between January and July 2026, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). Total cross-border receipts and payments reached $9.2 trillion in the first half of 2026, a 21% year-on-year increase. China’s yuan accounted for 52.9% of the country’s cross-border receipts and payments in the same period, surpassing half of all international transactions for the first time. China’s official forex reserves stood at $3.4163 trillion at the end of June 2026, with the commercial banking system absorbing most of the flows rather than routing them to the People’s Bank of China for reserve accumulation.
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