China Foreign Exchange Reserves Hit $3.2 Tril.

China’s world-leading foreign exchange reserves jumped 30.3 percent year-on-year to hit $3.1975 trillion as of the end of June, said the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Tuesday.

Funds outstanding for foreign exchange in financial institutions soared 277.33 billion yuan ($42.83 billion) over the May to June period to hit 24.67 trillion yuan ($3.81 tril.), said the PBOC in an online statement.

As of the end of May and April China’s foreign exchange reserves were, respectively, $3.166 trillion and $3.1458 trillion, according to the central bank’s statement.

China’s foreign exchange reserves are by far the world’s largest. Japan’s is a distant second at $1.135 tril., followed by the European Union ($849 bil.), Russia ($524 bil.), Saudi Arabia ($456 bil.), Taiwan ($387 bil.), Brazil ($328 bil.), India ($314 bil.) and S. Korea ($307 bil.) Some economists have criticized China for maintaining a superfluously large foreign exchange reserve, thereby preventing the capital from being invested more productively in its economy.