The nation’s foreign exchange reserves rose for the 17th consecutive month to a record high of US$355.04 billion last month, posting an increase of US$2.31 billion from the figure registered in February, the central bank said yesterday.
“The main factor responsible for last month’s increase was returns from foreign exchange reserves management,” said Lin Sun-yuan (林孫源), director-general of the central bank’s department of foreign exchange.
Taiwan still remained in the world’s top four in terms of its amount of foreign exchange reserves, after China, Japan and Russia, Lin said.
China’s foreign exchange reserves totaled US$2.39 trillion at the end of December, up US$126.6 billion from last September, while Japan’s decreased US$2.4 billion in February, down from a revised US$1 trillion in January, the central bank data showed.
Russia’s foreign exchange reserves rose to US$402.84 billion in February, up US$10.4 billion from the US$392.4 billion recorded at the end of January, the report said.
South Korea also saw an increase of US$1.7 billion in foreign exchange reserves last month, while Singapore and Hong Kong posted US$193.2 billion and US$247.6 billion in foreign reserves in February, it said
India’s foreign exchange reserves totaled US$253.8 billion as of March 19, down US$200 million from US$254 billion in February, data showed.
In other developments, Taiwan’s central bank sold NT$200 billion (US$6.3 billion) in certificates of deposit yesterday, more than the NT$188.2 billion that matured, the monetary authority said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
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