A mountain of cash with nowhere to go

SINGAPORE - You know the feeling, you have $3 trillion in foreign currency burning a hole in your pocket and you are itching to spend. But on what? A mountain of gold, a sea of oil or a pile of paper?

So far China has chosen paper, especially in the form of US treasury bills. But comments this week by China's central bank chief that the country's foreign exchange reserves exceeded reasonable requirements, and local media reports that Beijing was considering setting up investment funds in energy and precious metals, again raise the question about what the country can do with its money.

The size of the issue is staggering - in the first three months of the year China's reserves grew by $197 billion to $3.05 trillion.