China's foreign exchange reserves fell to 3.51 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of September, the country's central bank announced on Wednesday.
The reserves decreased by 43.26 billion U.S. dollars in September, marking the fourth consecutive month of declines, according to the People's Bank of China.
But the decrease was not as sharp as in August. The reserves dropped by a record 93.9 billion U.S. dollars in August.
The country's gold reserves fell from 61.795 billion U.S. dollars at the end of August to 61.189 billion U.S. dollars at the end of September.
China's foreign exchange reserves decreased by 42.5 billion U.S. dollars in July.
In the third quarter, forex reserves fell by 179.66 billion U.S. dollars, much more than the 40-billion-U.S.-dollar decrease in the second quarter, marking a fifth consecutive quarterly drop.
Fuelled by exports, forex reserves grew for more than a decade before beginning their decline in the third quarter of 2014.
China is battling a property downturn, industrial overcapacity, sluggish demand and struggling exports, which dragged growth down to 7 percent for the first half of the year.
(Updated)
