国内英语新闻:China's forex reserves growth slows in Q2, total reaching $2.45 trillion

BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Growth of China's foreign exchange reserves are slowing as the total reached 2.4543 trillion U.S. dollars by the end of June, up 15.1 percent year on year, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, announced on Sunday.

Statistics from the central bank show China's foreign exchange reserves increased by 7.2 billion U.S. dollars in the second quarter, a drastic decrease compared to the last quarter in 2009, when reserves grew by 126.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Reserves in the first quarter increased by 47.9 billion U.S. dollars.

The PBOC also said the declining euro was the major reason behind the slowing growth in foreign exchange reserves.

The exchange rate between the euro and U.S. dollar had fallen by nearly 20 percent between the end of 2009 and May this year, according to the PBOC.

China's basket of foreign exchange reserves include the U.S. dollar, euro, Japanese yen and others.

On a monthly basis, reserves increased by 43.4 billion U.S. dollars in April followed by a reduction of 51 billion U.S. dollars in May, while June saw reserves increase by 14.8 billion U.S. dollars.

China's gold reserves stood at 33.89 million ounces at the end of June, according to PBOC figures.