China will increase the quota of qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII), the country's top foreign exchange regulators said on Thursday.

That was revealed by Hu Xiaolian, director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and deputy governor of the People's Bank of China.

China launched the QFII program in 2002 in a move to open to the outside world its stock market, which is off-limits to foreigners, except QFII.

Last December, the QFII quota was tripled to US$ 30 billion according to an agreement reached with the US during the strategic economic dialogue.

Hu also said that the central bank and the SAFE are paying great attention to the rocketing in foreign direct investment (FDI) in January and will take measures to prevent the influx of so-called "hot money".

The FDI hit US$ 11.2 billion this January, up 109 percent from a year earlier. The total amount of FDI stood at US$ 74.768 billion.

"We will work together with the Ministry of Commerce and prevent the influx of hot money in the form of FDI," said Hu.

The recent FDI jump may relate to the rapid growth of China's economy, she said.

(China Daily March 8, 2008)