China reports surpluses under current, capital accounts in first quarter

China posted surpluses under both the current account and capital and financial account in the first quarter, according to data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) on Tuesday.

The surplus under the current account, which measures China's foreign trade, reached 29.8 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter, down 18 percent from a year earlier, SAFE said on its website.

For the capital and financial account, China reported a surplus of 111.4 billion U.S. dollars, including 42.6 billion U.S. dollars of net inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI), according to the SAFE.

The surpluses under the current and capital and financial accounts raised China's international reserve assets by 141.2 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter, of which 138 billion U.S. dollars was kept as foreign exchange reserves.

By the end of March, China's foreign exchange reserves hit 3.04 trillion U.S. dollars, up 24.4 percent year-on-year, according to figures from China's central bank.