Billions in capital were moved out of China right under the government’s nose

It is estimated that $328 billion was transferred out of China illegally in six months through "cooking the books" under the fear of accelerating yuan depreciation. By misreporting imports and exports data, funds circumvent the capital control of Chinese government. If you check the imports and customs data, you can find $2.2 trillion were paid by Chinese importers in 2015, while only $1.7 trillion imported goods were recorded by customs. This "cooking the books" accounted for 78% of the drop of China's foreign exchange reserves which decreased from $3.73 trillion in July last year to $3.23 trillion in January this year. It is also found that the difference between the payment for imports and the actual goods recorded through customs widens when concerns about yuan depreciation rise. Market Watch has published the full story here.