China's forex reserves hit US$954.5 billion

China's foreign-exchange reserves totalled US$954.5 billion at the end of July, Vice President Zeng Qinghong disclosed in an undated essay carried on the Web site http://www.studytimes.com.cn, the Wall Street Journal reported. China's central bank issues official figures on the nation's foreign-exchange reserves on a quarterly basis. At the end of June, China's foreign-exchange reserves totaled US$941.1 billion, according to the People's Bank of China. In the essay, Zeng said China will continue to "perfect" the yuan exchange-rate mechanism as part of work to be done in the second half of this year. He said China "should use comprehensive measures to control further large gains in its forex reserves," and should expand the use of forex reserves by increasing imports for reserves of "important strategic resources," hastening the transformation of key state enterprises and encouraging individuals to hold more foreign exchange. China must pay strong attention to structural macroeconomic adjustment to shift its growth model, he wrote.