The total of new purchases now stands at around R25 billion, which is an increase in our bond portfolio of about 0.6% of GDP from pre-crisis levels. This is comparable to purchases by emerging market peers.4  1 The cumulative reduction in the repo rate stands at 300 basis points since July 2019.
In December 2005, five more cities, namely Harbin, Changchun, Lanzhou, Yinchuan and Nanning, were opened ahead of schedule to foreign financial institutions for local currency business, bringing the total number of cities allowed for RMB business from 18 up to 25.