China's current account surplus reached 23.3 billion U.S. dollars in the third quarter of 2018, surging 338 percent from the second quarter, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said Friday.

In the July-September period, China saw a goods trade surplus of 100.8 billion U.S. dollars while reporting a service trade deficit of 80.9 billion U.S. dollars, said Wang Chunying, SAFE's spokesperson and chief economist.

China's international balance of payments maintained a basic equilibrium with both the current account and non-reserve financial account in surplus, the newly-released data showed.

The non-reserve financial account posted a surplus of 14 billion U.S. dollars in the quarter, with a net 33.9 billion U.S. dollars flowing into securities investment.

The direct investment was balanced as net outbound direct investment totaled 25.1 billion U.S. dollars and net foreign direct investment amounted to 25.2 billion U.S. dollars.

China's outstanding external debt totaled about 1.91 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of September, up 2.3 percent from that at the end of June, data showed.

The increase was mainly due to rises in trade credit amid rising imports and in debt securities as China further opens its bond market to overseas investors, said Wang.