China's foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest, fell by $99.5 billion in January, the central bank said in a statement Sunday.
Foreign reserves fell to $3.23 trillion at the of January, the lowest level since May 2012.
The figure was higher than a Reuters poll forecast of $3.20 trillion.
China's gold reserves rose to $63.57 billion at the end of January, from $60.19 billion at the end of 2015, the People's Bank of China said on its website.
Gold volume stood at 57.18 million fine troy ounces at the end of January, up from 56.66 million fine troy ounces in December.
China's International Monetary Fund reserve position was at $3.76 billion at the end of January, down from $4.55 billion in the previous month. The bank held $10.27 billion of IMF Special Drawing Rights at the end of last month, compared with $10.28 billion at the end of 2015.
