Core Viewpoint - The resilience of China's foreign exchange market has strengthened in the first half of the year, with significant surpluses in both bank foreign exchange settlement and cross-border payments, indicating a stable outlook for the market in the second half of the year [1][2]. Group 1: Foreign Exchange Market Performance - In the first half of the year, the bank's foreign exchange settlement surplus reached 85.2 billion USD, and the surplus for cross-border payments was 83.4 billion USD, primarily driven by high surpluses in goods trade and direct investment [2]. - The foreign exchange settlement rate increased slightly, with a rate of 66% for customer purchases from banks, up 2 percentage points from the previous year [2]. - The foreign exchange deposit balance for enterprises remained stable at 695.1 billion USD, with a settlement rate of 67%, which is an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared to the same period last year [2]. Group 2: Foreign Exchange Derivatives and Risk Management - The scale of enterprises using foreign exchange derivatives for risk management grew by 29% year-on-year, significantly outpacing the growth rate of foreign exchange settlement, raising the hedging ratio to 26%, an increase of 4.1 percentage points from the previous year [3]. - The foreign exchange reserve stood at 3.0713 trillion USD at the end of June, with fluctuations in value due to the rising dollar index and falling prices of major financial assets [3]. Group 3: Foreign Investment in Chinese Bonds - Despite recent international market volatility, foreign investment in Chinese bonds is expected to continue steadily, with foreign holdings of Chinese bonds remaining stable and accounting for over 50% by central bank institutions [4][5]. - By the end of 2021, China had attracted nearly 820 billion USD in cross-border bond investments, representing about one-third of the total external bond investment in emerging markets [4]. Group 4: Support for Enterprises in Managing Exchange Rate Risks - The foreign exchange bureau is actively supporting enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, in managing exchange rate risks by reducing hedging costs and enhancing their risk management capabilities [7][8]. - In the first half of the year, enterprises utilized foreign exchange derivatives to manage risks amounting to 755.8 billion USD, with nearly 17,000 new enterprises engaging in hedging, most of which are small and medium-sized [8].