China ended years of speculation¹ about its official gold holdings by revealing an almost 60 per cent jump in its reserves since 2009.

中国披露，自2009年以来其黄金储备已大幅增加近60%。多年来人们一直在猜测中国到底有多少官方黄金储备，中方的这一声明为他们揭晓了答案。

The country’s central bank said its gold reserves were 1,658 tonnes (53.31m fine troy ounces) as of the end of June. In April 2009, reserves were 1,054 tonnes.

中国央行表示，截至6月底，其黄金储备为1658吨（即5332万盎司）。2009年4月，中国的黄金储备是1054吨。

Confirmation² of the extent of China’s buying came as the price of bullion³, pressured by a strengthening US Dollar, fell to its lowest in five years, while shares in leading gold miners declined yesterday.

就在中国确认买入黄金的规模之际，在美元日益走强的压力下，黄金价格已跌至5年内的最低点，主要黄金矿商的股价近日也出现下跌。

The purchases show how China is seeking to diversify⁴ its reserves away from the US dollar, at a time when the price of gold is falling.

中国买入黄金的举措显示出，在金价不断下跌之际，中国正如何努力实现储备资产的多元化、减持美元并增持其他资产。

But that task has been complicated by the rapid growth in China’s foreign exchange reserves, which are the world’s largest at more than $3tn.

不过，中国外汇储备的迅猛增长，令这一任务变得更加复杂。中国外汇储备为全球最高，超过3万亿美元。

At a value of $60.9bn based on yesterday’s prices, China’s gold reserves only make up 1.6 per cent of its total foreign exchange holdings. The world average was just under 10 per cent at the end of 2014, according to Reuters GFMS.

以上一交易日的金价计算，中国黄金储备的价值为609亿美元，仅为外汇储备总额的1.6%。而根据汤森路透黄金矿业服务公司(Thomson Reuters GFMS)的数据，2014年底全球这一比例的平均水平略低于10%。

“The reality is that it is very difficult to diversify if you have to find ways to deploy⁵ billions of new reserves every week,” said Thilo Hanemann, head of research at the Rhodium Group in New York.

纽约荣鼎咨询(Rhodium Group)研究部门主管韩其洛(Thilo Hanemann)表示：“事实上，如果你每周都不得不想办法配置数十亿美元的新储备，要做到多元化是非常难的。”

Gold rose to a peak of $1,921.17 a troy ounce in 2011 before falling sharply to trade at $1,130 yesterday. Shares in gold miner Barrick Gold, the world’s largest producer, hit a 24-year low yesterday.

2011年，金价曾达到每盎司1921.17美元的峰值，之后急剧下跌，上一交易日为每盎司1130美元。全球最大黄金生产商巴里克黄金(Barrick Gold)的股价近日跌至24年来的低点。

China has been reducing its foreign exchange reserves this year, reporting $3.69tn at the end of June, down from $3.84tn in January.

中国今年一直在降低外汇储备。根据中国公布的数据，其外汇储备已从1月份的3.84万亿美元降至6月底的3.69万亿美元。

“Gold has a special risk-return characteristic, and at specific times is not a bad investment,” the People’s Bank of China said on its website.

中国央行在其网站上表示：“黄金具有特殊的风险收益特性，在特定时期是不错的投资品种。

“But the capacity of the gold market is small compared with China’s foreign exchange reserves; if foreign exchange reserves were used to buy large amounts of gold in a short amount of time, it will easily affect the market.”

但黄金市场的容量与我国外汇储备规模相比较小，如果外汇储备短时间大量购金，易对市场造成影响。”

The 604 tonnes increase did not exceed analyst⁶ estimates, and yesterday’s price was the lowest since 2010.

604吨的增幅并未超过分析师的估计。上周五，金价处于2010年以来的最低水平。

“If you like gold, the fact they bought it is a good thing but it’s not bullish in terms of the scale,” said Leon Westgate, an analyst at ICBC Standard Bank. Still, the data mean China has now overtaken Russia as the sixth largest holder⁷ of gold in the world, after the US, Germany, the IMF, Italy and France, according to the World Gold Council. The US has reserves of 8,133 tonnes.

中国工商银行标准银行(ICBC Standard Bank)分析师莱昂?韦斯特盖特(Leon Westgate)表示：“如果你喜欢黄金，那他们买入黄金是个好消息。但从买入规模来讲，这个消息还不足以推涨黄金。”不过，根据世界黄金协会(World Gold Council)的数据，上述黄金储备数据意味着中国目前已超过俄罗斯，成为继美国、德国、国际货币基金组织(IMF)、意大利和法国之后的全球第六大黄金持有实体。目前，美国拥有8133吨黄金储备。

China does not regularly release data on its gold reserves. Before its last announcement in 2009, there were only two other announcements of changes to its gold reserves over the past 15 years, according to UBS.

中国不会定期公布其黄金储备数据。根据瑞银(UBS)的说法，过去15年里，中国仅公布了三次黄金储备的变动，其中一次就是在2009年，另两次在2009年之前。

It is possible the gold announcement is a one-off transparency gesture as the IMF concludes talks this year about inclusion of its currency in its Special Drawing Rights, the IMF-created currency, UBS said. China is seeking IMF endorsement⁸ of the renminbi as an official reserve currency, a designation that would require it to be “freely usable”.

瑞银表示，在IMF今年就人民币加入特别提款权(SDR)货币篮子的讨论做出结论之际，中国公布黄金储备数据之举可能是展示透明度的一次性姿态。特别提款权是IMF创设的一种储备资产。中国正努力让IMF接纳人民币为官方储备货币，这一称号要求人民币必须“可自由使用”。