Russia overtakes Taiwan in FX reserves

Russia has replaced Taiwan as holder of the world's third-largest foreign exchange reserves, several newspapers reported yesterday.

On Thursday, the central bank reported that Taiwan's foreign exchange reserves totaled US$266.052 billion at the end of last month, up from US$265.70 billion the previous month.

As Russia's foreign exchange reserves reached US$284.1 billion in May, it would have replaced Taiwan as holder of the world's third-largest foreign exchange reserves by the end of last month, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported.

The Chinese-language Liberty Times and Economic Daily News carried similar reports yesterday, saying that Russia's foreign exchange reserves had been growing rapidly in recent months.

On June 28, the central bank's foreign-exchange department chief, Duann Jin-sheng (段金生), told a press briefing that the nation's foreign exchange reserves "are adequate," because they can pay for 15.7 months of imports, which exceeds the world average of 7.5 months.

Accurate comparisons are difficult. Taiwan's central bank releases the figures on the fifth day of every month, while other countries release their data at the end of each month, or one or two months later.

The holders of the world's top five foreign currency reserves are China at

US$1.202 trillion as of March, Japan at US$894.3 billion as of April, Russia

at US$284.1 billion as of May, Taiwan at US$266.052 billion as of last

month, and South Korea at US$250.2 billion as of last month, the central

bank's figures show.