Taiwan had a surplus of US$11.82 billion in its balance of payments in the second quarter, widening a surplus of US$4.59 billion a year earlier, the central bank’s latest tallies released yesterday showed.
The second-quarter surplus contrasted with a US$12.89 billion surplus posted in the first quarter, the central bank said.
The balance of payments is used to measure a nation’s payment flow of goods, services and investment across borders.
In the second quarter, the current-account surplus rose 40.8 percent to US$9.92 billion from US$7.04 billion a year earlier on a deeper decline in imports than that in exports amid the global slump, the central bank said.
The surplus narrowed from a US$12.89 billion surplus in the first quarter, the bank said.
Exports contracted 31.9 percent between April and June, while imports plunged 37.2 percent, Dawn Chen (陳一端), deputy chief of the central bank’s economic research department, told a media briefing.
As for the financial account, the direct and portfolio investment posted a net outflow of US$800 million and US$1.1 billion respectively in the second quarter, which Chen attributed to a rising purchase of foreign mutual funds and bonds by local residents and insurance firms.
The surplus on the income account, which includes dividend payments, widened to US$2.49 billion from US$1.64 billion a year earlier because of less income from direct investment and bank interest amid worldwide interest rate cuts.
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