Zhou: China's forex reserves excessive 

 周小川：外汇储备已超合理水平

China's huge foreign exchange reserves have already risen to an unnecessary, unreasonable level, People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said Monday in a speech at Tsinghua University.

"Excessive foreign reserve accumulation has led to excess liquidity in our markets, adding to the pressure on the central bank to manage the money supply," said Zhou. "The State Council has required a cut in excessive reserves and good management of the funds accumulated, including diversification of investments."

China's foreign exchange reserves rose 24.4 percent year-on-year to $3.044 trillion by the end of March. China has had the world's largest forex reserves since February 2009 when it overtook Japan.

Zhou said China's government hasn't found a good way to solve problems with local government financing vehicles. According to Zhou, the central government is considering letting local authorities pursue measures such as a real-estate tax or allowing local governments to issue municipal bonds to finance future regional infrastructure construction.

央行行长周小川18日晚间在清华大学金融高端讲坛上坦言，外汇储备已经超过了我国需要的合理水平，外汇积累过多，导致市场流动性过多，也增加了央行对冲工作的压力。

周小川昨天坦言，外汇积累过多，导致市场流动性过多，也增加了央行对冲工作的压力。国务院也已经提出来要减少外汇储备的过度积累，对于已经积累的部分一定要管好，其中一条就是要多样化。

截至3月末，我国的外汇储备余额已经突破3万亿美元。中国于2009年2月超过日本，成为世界第一大外汇储备的国家。

周小川还表示，中国政府尚未找到解决地方政府融资平台问题的良策，或将采取征收房产税或允许地方政府发行债券等措施来降低地方政府对这类融资平台的依赖。