Capital outflow controls to be loosened

The central government plans to ease restrictions on capital outflows and accelerate the transition to a "basically convertible" yuan for capital account transactions, the South China Morning Post reported. Zou Lin, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange official in charge of China’s capital account, said the qualified domestic institutional investor plan was in line for revival. This would let large institutional investors such as mutual funds diversify into offshore bonds and equities. A loosening of restrictions on outward direct investment, expansion of the qualified foreign institutional investor scheme and foreign firms being allowed to issue yuan bonds and China depositary receipts were also possibilities, he said. China’s outbound direct investment jumped more than 25% to US$6.9 billion last year, but inbound foreign direct investment topped US$60 billion and foreign reserves reached US$819 billion at the end of December last year.