China’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $108bn in December to $3.33tn, a bigger fall than expected and the biggest monthly drop on record.

去年12月，中国外汇储备下降1080亿美元，至3.33万亿美元，降幅超过预期，同时也是有记录以来最大的单月降幅。

Economists were expecting reserves of $3.42tn.

经济学家曾普遍预期去年12月中国外汇储备为3.42万亿美元。

The big fall underscores a key point: the People’s Bank of China is fighting the market to keep the renminbi up, not steering it lower as some suspect.

外储大降凸显出很重要的一点：中国央行正在与市场抗争、以力挺人民币，而不是如有些人猜测的那样操纵人民币贬值。

Reserves have been falling since June 2014, when they peaked at nearly $4tn. They’ve since fallen almost every month, for a cumulative 16.6 per cent, as the central bank sells dollars from its reserves to curb renminbi weakness. The rate hike by the US Federal Reserve last month will also have prompted outflows.

中国外汇储备在2014年6月达到近4万亿美元的峰值，此后不断下降。随着中国央行出售美元储备以抑制人民币走弱，中国外汇储备几乎每个月都有所下降，迄今的累积降幅为16.6%。上月美联储(Fed)加息也加剧了中国的资本外流。

China’s forex reserves — the world’s largest —are seen as an ultimate guarantor of financial stability as they can be used to hedge against capital flight or to bail out domestic financial institutions struggling with a rise in bad debts.

中国拥有全球最多的外汇储备，它们一直被视作金融稳定的最终保障，因为它们可被用来对冲资本外逃、或救助正努力应对坏账增加的国内金融机构。

In August, the month the PBoC devalued the currency and tweaked the way if “fixes” the daily rate, reserves fell by $93.9bn – the most on record until this new data set.

去年8月，中国央行调整了人民币汇率中间价形成机制并让人民币贬值，当月外汇储备下降了939亿美元，在当时创下了最大月度降幅纪录。这个纪录已被上述新数据打破。