The New Taiwan dollar should not have shot up by such a significant amount over the past year, given the nation's low trade surplus, Liang Fa-chin (
"As Taiwan's trade performance is very poor, the NT dollar should not have increased that much," he said during a press conference yesterday held to report on the APEC meeting of finance ministers in South Korea, which concluded Saturday.
He said that during the first seven months of the year, Taiwan reported the lowest trade surplus in Asia, US$751 million, compared with Japan's US$50.3 billion, China's US$50 billion, South Korea's US$14.4 billion and Singapore's US$8.6 billion.
However, by July 29 the NT dollar appreciated by 6.69 percent year-on-year, only second to the rise of 13.95 percent rise in Korea's currency during the same period of time.
At the same time, the Japanese yen declined 0.48 percent, Singapore's currency rose 3.53 percent and the Chinese yuan gained 2.1 percent.
Asked whether the central bank will adjust the NT dollar's value to a more reasonable level, Liang said it should be decided by the market mechanism.
The central bank is slated to hold its quarterly meeting this Thursday to review issues such as interest rates.
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