Outbound funds rule tweaked

China's foreign exchange regulator yesterday announced revised rules relaxing controls on companies' overseas investments in a bid to support more enterprises to venture out of the country.

Domestic companies can use their existing foreign exchange reserves or purchase fresh foreign exchange to fund the operations of their overseas subsidiaries from Aug 1, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said on its website yesterday.

According to an October 2004 SAFE rule, large multinational companies were allowed to use their foreign exchange reserves to lend to overseas ventures but with heavy restrictions.