Governor of China's central bank, the People's Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan, said that the country's foreign exchange management was continuously strengthened and improved: procedures were simplified to convenience trade and investment; the foreign exchange market order was further rectified; efforts were made to reinforce analysis and supervision on international payments, as well as the effective management of foreign exchange reserves.

In 2002, so far 60 foreign banks have been approved to conduct forex businesses without regional or client restrictions, and 53 foreign banks have been allowed to conduct RMB businesses in nine Chinese cities.

He said that this year China would continue to improve its forex administration and maintain balanced international payments.

(Xinhua News Agency January 27, 2003)