Amidst Concerns About Forex Outflows; China Hides Data

Financial analysts say the sudden lack of clear information makes it hard for markets to assess the scale of capital flows out of China as well as the central bank's foreign exchange operations in the banking system.

Figures on the "position for forex purchase" are regularly published in the People's Bank of China's monthly report on the "Sources and Uses of Credit Funds of Financial Institutions". The December reading in foreign currencies was US$250 billion.

But the data was missing in the central bank's latest report. It seemed the information had been merged into the "other items" ­category, whose January figure was US$243.9 billion -- a surge from US$20.4 billion the previous month.