Making most of reserves

The steady growth of China's huge foreign exchange reserves surely speaks volumes about the resilience of the Chinese economy even in the face of the worst global financial crisis and economic downturn in many decades.

However, to help the world economy as well as itself ride out the current crisis, the country needs to tap into its forex reserves swiftly and smartly.

China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) predicted yesterday that the country's international balance of payments remained "double surplus" in current account and capital account in 2008, but that the growth rate had slowed.