China witnessed a "hot money" inflow of $35.5 billion in 2010, accounting for a relatively small part of the increase in foreign exchange reserves, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a report published on February 17.

This is the first time that China announced an official estimation of "hot money" to the public.

The figure accounted for 7.6 percent of the increase in foreign exchange reserves from 2009, SAFE said.

"The continuous capital inflows were mainly attracted by stable and rapid economic growth in China," SAFE said.

"That's a very small amount (compared to China's huge economy) and proved what we have been saying, that speculative cross-border inflows have a very limited impact on the economy," Wang Tao, chief China economist at the UBS Investment Bank, told China Daily.