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BEIJING, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese central bank's yuan outstanding for foreign exchange continued to decline in February, but at a slower pace.
The funds declined 58.1 billion yuan (around 8.4 billion U.S. dollars) in February to 21.7 trillion yuan, data from the People's Bank of China showed Tuesday.
It was the 16th straight month of decline, but the decrease was less than 209 billion yuan registered in January.
As the Chinese currency is not freely convertible under the capital account, the central bank has to purchase foreign currency generated by China's trade surplus and foreign investment in the country, adding funds to the money market.
China's outstanding foreign exchange reserve stood at a little more than 3 trillion dollars by the end of February, still the largest foreign exchange reserve stockpile in the world.
