The nation’s foreign exchange reserves rose to a fresh high of US$390.69 billion last month as the weak US dollar helped boost the conversion value of assets in other currencies, the central bank said yesterday.
That represented an increase of US$3.58 billion, or 0.9 percent, from US$387.11 billion in January, central bank data showed.
“The main factor behind the increase was the appreciation of the euro and other major currencies versus the US dollar, the base currency, making foreign exchange reserves denominated in those currencies worth more,” Department of Foreign Exchange director-general Lin Sun-yuan (林孫源) told a press briefing.
The market value of securities and deposits held by foreign investors at the end of last month reached US$235.1 billion, equivalent to 60 percent of the nation’s foreign exchange reserves, down 6 percentage points from a month earlier, the central bank’s data showed. Remittances by foreign investors amounted to US$2.15 billion last month, which led to the falling percentage, Lin said.
The latest data meant that the nation safeguarded its position as having the world’s fourth-largest foreign exchange reserves, behind China, Japan and Russia.
China’s foreign exchange reserves grew to US$2.85 trillion in December, while Japan’s stood at US$1.03 trillion in January and Russia’s hit US$440 billion.
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