China’s $200bn sovereign wealth fund now has as much as $90bn to spend on assets abroad, an increase of more than 30 per cent on its original allocation, its president and chief investment officer told western bankers in Beijing on Wednesday.

The China Investment Corporation initially had about $66bn for investment offshore but Gao Xiqing said it had changed that after the government decided less would be needed to restructure Agricultural Bank of China, China Development Bank and other struggling state-owned financial institutions.