China to loosen limits on individual financial investment overseas

BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government will loosen limits on individual investment abroad this year, according to Li Dongrong, vice director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

    The government would further broaden channels for investment overseas, Li said at a meeting on the country's capital investment plan for 2007, the Shanghai Security Journal reported on Monday.

    The report quoted analysts as saying the move indicated a major breakthrough in allowing Chinese individuals to buy overseas financial assets.

    Currently, Chinese individuals can only buy investment products provided by banks and fund management companies if they want to invest abroad under a Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) scheme.

    The SAFE granted 15 banks overseas investment quotas totaling 13.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2006. Meanwhile, 15 insurance companies were granted overseas investment quotas of 5.17 billion U.S. dollars and one fund management company was given a quota of 500 million U.S. dollars.

    The meeting also heard that the government would also increase the number of QDIIs and the value of their investment quotas, but no details of quotas were available.

    China has also eased control on foreign exchange purchases by individuals. The annual quota for individuals was raised from 20,000 U.S. dollars to 50,000 U.S. dollars on Feb. 1 this year.

    At the end of 2006, China recorded a 14-percent annual rise in foreign debt, of which short-term foreign debt was up 16 percent or so, figures from the SAFE showed.

    Short-term foreign debt makes up as much as 57 percent of total foreign debt, far higher than the international warning level of 25 percent.

    The government is preparing to establish a state forex investment company to improve management of China's huge foreign exchange reserves and generate higher returns on the reserves under the preconditions of security.