China trade surplus hits new high

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China trade surplus hits new high

 

Beijing (dpa) - China's trade surplus for the first nine months of 2006 reached $109.85 billion, higher than the full-year total of $101.88 billion in 2005, the government said on Thursday.

 

The September trade surplus was $15.3 billion, down from the record monthly surplus $18.8 billion in August, the state customs administration said.

 

Exports rose 30.6 per cent year-on-year to $91.64 billion in September, and imports grew 22 per cent to $76.34 billion, the administration said.

 

Economists have forecast China's 2006 full-year trade surplus at more than $150 billion.

 

Mei Xinyu, a trade expert linked with the commerce ministry, denied that the size of the trade surplus meant that China's trade policies were having limited effect.

 

"It is unrealistic to reverse the trend in the short term so China's trade surplus with the United States continues to mount up," the official Xinhua news agency said.

 

The ministry on Wednesday said China planned to reduce its trade surplus to zero by increasing imports over the next few years.

 

Many US, Japanese and European critics say China's huge exports are bolstered by an undervalued currency.

 

The yuan has risen by about 4 per cent against the dollar since China freed it last July from an 11-year-old peg to the dollar.

 

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao last month ruled out an more sudden rises in China's currency and said the government would continue to allow gradual appreciation of the yuan.