The nation’s balance of payments surplus dropped to US$8 billion in the third quarter, down from the US$15.38 billion recorded in the second quarter, after the financial account posted a net outflow of US$2.43 billion last quarter, the central bank said yesterday.
The financial account snapped a streak of five quarters of inflow during the three months ending in September because of large capital outflows in July and August, mainly for investment in overseas securities by insurance firms, the central bank said.
INVESTMENTS
Direct and portfolio investments posted net outflows of US$2.64 billion and US$10.21 billion respectively, with residents’ portfolio investments abroad exhibiting a net outflow of US$8.87 billion, data showed.
“However, other investments saw a net inflow of US$10.29 billion, mainly attributed to increasing bank deposits of non-residents, capital drawn from overseas bank branches and the withdrawal of foreign deposits by the private sector,” Dawn Chen (陳一端), deputy chief of the central bank’s economic research department, told a media briefing.
Chen said that bank deposits of non-residents rose nearly US$1 billion in the third quarter, some of which might have been “hot money.”
The third-quarter current account surplus was US$8.99 billion, up NT$0.94 billion or 11.7 percent from a year ago, as a larger current transfer deficit was offset by increases in surpluses on goods trade, services and income, the central bank said.
IMPORTS
However, the current account surplus was lower than the US$11.15 billion recorded in the second quarter because of a greater increase in imports than exports on the back of robust private investment, the central bank said.
Exports grew 27.1 percent last quarter, while imports posted a year-on-year increase of 30.4 percent, the central bank said.
In the first three quarters, the current account registered a surplus of US$30.44 billion, the financial account posted a net inflow of US$6.18 billion and the overall balance recorded a surplus of US$36.78 billion, reflecting an increase in the central bank’s reserve assets.
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