China’s foreign exchange reserve grew US$126.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, entering 2010 with a value of US$2,399 billion, reported the Financial Times. While early 2009 had been tumultuous due to a fall in global demand for Chinese exports and changes in the exchange value of the renminbi, Chinese forex reserves grew by a total of US$453 billion in 2009. A drop in the increase of foreign reserves in December was blamed on the consequences of revaluation created by declines in the euro and yen. Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at HSBC, said, "The strong increase in reserves clearly doesn’t help in terms of relieving pressure on China to revalue its currency."