China's March Forex Reserves World's Largest

China's foreign exchange reserves, now the world's largest, hit US$ 875.1 billion by the end of March, the central bank said April 14. That constitutes a gain of $21.4 billion in the course of just one month from $853.7 billion at end February.

Japan's reserves, formerly the largest but now second, stood at$ 850.06 billion at the end of February, according to the Japanese data.

The data come after Beijing announced an easing of controls over capital outflows that could help slow the rapid accumulation of its foreign exchange reserves.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2006