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(1) foreign exchange control

1, foreign exchange trade control

(1) Export foreign exchange income control

In countries with strict foreign exchange management, it is generally stipulated that exporters must settle and sell foreign exchange at banks designated by the state, that is to say, exporters must declare the export price, currency used for settlement, payment method and time limit to foreign exchange management agencies. After receiving the export payment, you must declare to the foreign exchange administration department and sell all or part of the foreign exchange to the designated foreign exchange bank according to the official exchange rate and management regulations. In addition, in order to encourage exports, many countries implement export tax rebates, export credits and other measures, and at the same time restrict the export of some commodities, technologies and strategic materials that are urgently needed, in short supply or have a significant impact on the national economy and people's livelihood, and usually implement an export license system.

(2) Import payment control

In countries with strict foreign exchange control, in order to restrict the import of certain commodities and reduce foreign exchange expenditure, the general measures are as follows:

First, the import deposit prepayment system. It means that when importing a certain commodity, the importer should deposit a certain amount of import payment with the designated bank, and the bank does not pay interest. The amount is determined in a certain proportion according to the category of the imported goods or the country to which they belong.

Second, the import license system. It means that importers can only buy the foreign exchange needed for import if they obtain an import license issued by the relevant authorities. The issuance of import licenses usually takes into account the import quantity, the structure of imported goods, the country of production of imported goods and the terms of import payment.

2. Non-trade foreign exchange control

Non-trade foreign exchange management generally adopts the following methods: direct restriction, maximum amount, registration system and special approval.

3. Control of capital input and output

Capital account is an important part of the balance of payments, so both developed and developing countries attach great importance to capital input and output, and implement different levels of management of capital input and output according to different needs. Due to the shortage of foreign exchange funds, developing countries generally implement various preferential policies for capital investment to attract foreign investment that is conducive to their own economic development. For example, foreign-invested enterprises are given preferential tax relief and profits are allowed to be remitted. In order to ensure the effect of capital investment, some developing countries have taken the following measures:

(1) Specify the amount, duration and investment department of capital investment;

(2) In a certain period of time, a certain proportion of foreign loans should be deposited in foreign exchange banks;

(3) Banks cannot borrow more than a certain proportion of their capital and reserves from abroad;

(4) stipulate the minimum amount of foreign investment, etc. In the past, developing countries strictly restricted capital export, and generally did not allow individuals and enterprises to freely export (or remit) foreign exchange funds. However, in recent years, with the emergence of regional economic integration and trade collectivization, many developing countries have begun to actively invest overseas in order to break the regional blockade and promote the growth of their export trade through direct investment. For example, Latin American countries, ASEAN countries, South Korea and China have been very active in overseas investment in recent years, relaxing foreign exchange control on capital export.

Compared with developing countries, developed countries take fewer restrictive measures on capital import and export, and even take some measures to ease the pressure on their exchange rates and official reserves. For example, in Japan, Germany, Switzerland and other countries in the middle and late 1960s, due to the surplus of international payments for years, the currency exchange rate often rose, which became the main target of international speculative capital. The long-term balance of payments surplus has also led to a substantial increase in international reserves in these countries, which has also aggravated the inflation risk in these countries, so these countries have taken some measures to limit the import of foreign capital. For example, banks are required to absorb non-resident deposits and pay higher deposit reserve, banks are required to pay no interest or charge interest on non-resident deposits, and non-residents are prohibited from buying the securities of the country, so as to alleviate the rising exchange rate of the country's currency. At the same time, developed countries actively encourage capital export. For example, Japan lifted the restrictions on residents buying foreign securities and investing in foreign real estate from 1972. What needs to be pointed out in particular is that although it is a general trend in developed countries to restrict capital input and encourage capital output, according to the changes in the balance of payments and exchange rate at that time, foreign exchange controls were sometimes relaxed and sometimes strict, and were constantly adjusted.

(2) Currency exchange management

Foreign exchange management is the most basic and main content in foreign exchange management. The main reasons for implementing currency exchange control are: shortage of foreign exchange; Financial confusion; Different economic systems at home and abroad; There are differences between domestic price system and international price system.

1, the currency is convertible

Currency is divided into non-convertible currency, convertible currency and freely convertible currency according to its convertibility. Countries that implement strict foreign exchange control, whether under current account or capital account, strictly restrict the exchange of local currency into foreign currency and foreign currency into cost currency, and the domestic currency is called non-convertible currency; According to the definition of the International Monetary Fund, a country's currency is classified as a convertible currency if it can be freely convertible under trade accounts and non-trade accounts, that is, under current accounts; A freely convertible currency means that it can be freely converted into a foreign currency or a foreign currency in the foreign exchange market, that is, the current account and capital account are freely convertible.

2. Design and content of currency convertibility under current account.

According to the regulations of the International Monetary Fund, once the foreign exchange management system of a member country meets the requirements of Article 8 of the Agreement of the International Monetary Fund, its currency can be called convertible currency, that is, it is convertible under the current account. The contents of Article 8 of the Agreement of the International Monetary Fund are mainly reflected in the second, third and fourth paragraphs, and its main contents are as follows:

(1) Avoid restrictions on recurring payments or transfers. Without the consent of the International Monetary Fund, member countries may not impose exchange restrictions on international current payments and capital transfers.

(2) Discriminatory monetary measures or multiple exchange rate measures shall not be implemented.

(3) Pay the foreign currency of the country. Any member country has the obligation to buy back the balance of its own currency held by other member countries, as long as the exchange country can prove that this balance was obtained through the recent current exchange, or that this exchange was carried out to meet the needs of current exchange.

(3) Gold control

Countries with strict foreign exchange controls also control gold trading. Generally speaking, gold cannot be exported or imported without permission, and the central bank is specialized in dealing with the trading, export and import of gold. The habit of cash management is to set limits and uses for taking money out of the country, and sometimes even prohibit it, so as to prevent the currency output from being used for commodity import and capital flight and impacting the currency.

Exchange rate management

There are two methods of exchange rate management: direct management and indirect management.

Direct management of exchange rate means that the government designates a department to formulate, adjust and publish exchange rate. This official exchange rate plays a decisive role in the whole foreign exchange transaction, that is, all foreign exchange receipts and payments must be based on this exchange rate. Implementing multiple exchange rate system is also one of the methods of direct management. In countries with underdeveloped economy, imperfect market mechanism and lack of effective market regulation mechanism, exchange rates are often managed by direct administrative means such as complex exchange rate system. Complex exchange rates take many forms. According to the compound exchange rate, it can be divided into current account exchange rate and capital account exchange rate. The former is called trade exchange rate and the latter is called financial exchange rate. In order to stabilize import and export and commodity prices, the government intervened in the trade and non-trade exchange rates respectively to stabilize them at the target exchange rate level. Multiple exchange rates can be divided according to different industries or import and export commodities, such as one exchange rate for traditional export commodities and another exchange rate for high-tech products. There are two forms of periodic compound exchange rate, open and hidden. For example, different foreign exchange retention ratios are implemented for export enterprises to earn foreign exchange, allowing enterprises to sell at a settlement rate higher than the prescribed rate, forming a de facto exchange rate variety. The compound exchange rate generally plays the role of "rewarding and restricting entry" and is an important means to adjust the balance of payments deficit in economically underdeveloped countries or countries with low export earning capacity. However, the implementation of multiple exchange rate system leads to high management cost and complicated foreign exchange management, which also leads to price distortion, which is not conducive to fair competition. Indirect exchange rate management refers to the method that the relevant government departments use the foreign exchange market to buy and sell foreign exchange, thus affecting the relationship between foreign exchange supply and demand and controlling exchange rate changes. Indirect management requires the establishment of a foreign exchange stabilization fund, the use of foreign exchange stabilization fund to intervene in the relationship between supply and demand, or the direct use of foreign exchange reserves to intervene in the foreign exchange market.