China extends $80.8 billion of QFII quota by January-end

BEIJING - Altogether 279 overseas institutions have received quotas amounting $80.8 billion under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) program to move the money into the country's capital account, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday.

As of Jan 27, the outstanding quota under the renminbi-denominated Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) program came in at 469.8 billion yuan, the data showed.

China's currency, the yuan, is convertible for trade purposes under the current account, while the capital account, which covers portfolio investment and borrowing, is still largely controlled by the state over concerns of abrupt capital flows in and out of the country.

To gradually open the capital account, the government introduced the QFII and RQFII programs in 2003 and 2011 respectively. They give foreign investors the right to move quotas of money into the account to encourage controllable flows.

The RQFII program has so far been opened to countries and regions including Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Britain, Singapore, France, the Republic of Korea, Germany, Qatar, Canada, Australia and Luxembourg.