China's yuan funds for foreign exchange drop in January

BEIJING - The Chinese central bank's yuan outstanding for foreign exchange continued to decline in January, weighed on by capital outflow pressures.

The funds declined 208.8 billion yuan ($30.5 billion) in January month-on-month to 21.73 trillion yuan, data from the People's Bank of China showed Friday.

It marked the 15th consecutive month of decline.

As the Chinese currency is not freely convertible under the capital account, the central bank has to purchase foreign currency generated by China's trade surplus and foreign investment in the country, adding funds to the money market.

China's forex reserves dipped to about $2.99 trillion in January, down from about $3.01 trillion in December 2016, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed last week.