China reports increase in household deposits

China's newly-added RMB household deposits stood at 6.47 trillion yuan (about $914.9 billion) in the first quarter of the year, about 400 billion yuan more than the same period last year, official data showed.

The country's balance of household deposits reached 87.8 trillion yuan by the end of March, up 13 percent year-on-year, according to the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

In breakdown, the balance rose by 4.24 trillion yuan and around 2.35 trillion yuan in January and March, respectively, while decreasing by 120 billion yuan in February.

Household savings had relatively large absolute quantity, accounted for a relatively high proportion of money supply and registered relatively fast growth in the first quarter, said PBOC spokesperson Zhou Xuedong.

Zhou also noted that China's savings rate is still relatively high in the world, which lays a good foundation in cushioning the impact of the COVID-19.