Beijing, July 15 (Xinhua) China's foreign exchange reserves topped $2.13 trillion by the end of June, up 17.84 percent year-on-year, the People's Bank of China said Wednesday.
About $185.6 billion were added to the world's largest official foreign exchange reserves in the first half of the year, but that figure is about $95 billion less than the same period a year ago, said the central bank.
The stockpile was increased by $42.1 billion in June, $30.2 billion more compared to the same period a year earlier.
Chinese exports plummeted 21.8 percent through the January-June period in the sharpest decrease in a decade after the global financial crisis sapped demand for Chinese goods.
Declining exports drove down the trade surplus to $96.94 billion in the first half, down 1.3 percent year-on-year.
A decline of the greenback also helped lower the reserves' value as a big share of the holdings were US treasury bills.