Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments Data for the First Half of 2026 — Press Conference Transcript

Published: September 29, 2026

Sources & Verification

Primary Source

State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), briefing at the State Council Information Office (SCIO) — Official document ↗

CPG Analysis

AI-assisted summary of the official source linked above, pending human review.

Verification

AI-assisted summary · generated Sep 29, 2026 · pending human review

This summary was generated by AI from the linked official source. It has not been reviewed line-by-line by a human editor.

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⚠ This is a policy signal, not a confirmed rule.

No immediate compliance change has been identified. Monitor for official implementation documents.

⚡ Impact at a Glance

Who is affected

Cross-border trade, banking and FX derivatives, foreign direct investment, high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services, outbound investment

Cities / Agencies

Nationwide · State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), briefing at the State Council Information Office (SCIO)

What to do now

Monitor only — no action required

Source & verification

SAFE · AI-assisted summary · generated Sep 29, 2026 · pending human review

What to watch next

SAFE Capital Account Management Department: formal issuance of the new cross-border investment and financing facilitation package (streamlined direct-investment FX purchase and outbound remittance procedures; expanded cross-border financing eligibility; nationwide green external debt pilot; delegation of capital-account registration to banks); SAFE: optimised macro-prudential rules for corporate cross-border financing; PBOC/SAFE: RMB settlement and FX hedging support measures; SAFE Balance of Payments Department: further statistical methodology revisions

Executive Summary

China's foreign exchange regulator, SAFE, held a press conference to report first-half 2026 balance-of-payments data. Cross-border receipts and payments hit a record USD 9.2 trillion (up 21% year-on-year), with a net cross-border capital inflow of USD 247.2 billion and foreign exchange reserves rising to USD 3.4163 trillion. SAFE also signalled a forthcoming third annual package of cross-border investment and financing facilitation measures — including simpler direct-investment procedures, a nationwide green external debt pilot, and greater delegation of capital-account registration to banks — but no rules were issued in this document. Nothing in the transcript itself changes any filing, tax, or licensing obligation today.

Key Points

Cross-border receipts and payments by non-banking sectors reached a record USD 9.2 trillion in H1 2026, up 21% year-on-year, with RMB accounting for 52.9% of all cross-border settlements, up 1.3 percentage points from the 2025 full-year figure.

Non-banking sectors recorded a net cross-border capital inflow of USD 247.2 billion in H1 2026; inflows were strong in January-February, turned to a mild net outflow in March amid geopolitical tension, then resumed, moderating from June.

Foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks reached USD 2.9 trillion (up 24%) with a USD 271.2 billion surplus; the FX purchase ratio was 65% and the sale ratio 61%, indicating broadly stable, rational market behaviour.

Inbound foreign investment rebounded — net inflows of all foreign investment types were about USD 160 billion in the first five months, with foreign equity investment net inflows above USD 50 billion and reinvested earnings of FIEs up 35% year-on-year; FDI stock exceeded USD 4 trillion.

SAFE announced (without issuing) a new package of cross-border investment and financing facilitation policies: streamlined FX purchase and outbound remittance procedures, expanded eligibility for cross-border financing, a nationwide green external debt pilot, and delegation of certain capital-account registrations to banks.

Enterprise use of FX derivatives is rising fast — contracted value reached nearly USD 1.4 trillion in H1 2026, up 40% year-on-year, and the corporate hedging ratio rose to 35.3%, up 5.3 percentage points on full-year 2025; 130 banks now offer FX derivatives to corporates.

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