The extent of FX intervention can be gauged by measures apart from Official Foreign Reserves (OFR) data, such as the change in PBoC's foreign assets and the change in "financial institutions' forex purchase position". According to Barclays, a better measure of FX intervention is the change in the central bank's net foreign assets as compared with the change in FX reserves.

The PBoC foreign assets series is calculated in CNY and is valued at the historical cost of purchase, whereas the FX reserve data is  dependent on valuation changes when there is fluctuations in exchange rates and are measured in USD. The changes in central bank's foreign assets give a better measure of FX intervention as the adjustment and estimate for valuation impact on FX reserves due to changes in exchange rate in reserve holdings are not required for foreign assets.

The Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity for China report for the June to November months indicated that no FX intervention/sterilization through FX forwards/swaps took place. The report for December is due to be released on 29 January.