The central bank yesterday said that its net value has increased by NT$48.5 billion (US$1.59 billion) to NT$985.3 billion since the end of May 2008, dismissing a news report about a plunge of NT$60 billion in its net value over recent years.
Taiwan Thinktank (台灣智庫) chairman Chen Po-chih (陳博志) on Saturday said the central bank contributed its annual surplus of between NT$100 billion and NT$200 billion to the national coffers, which has led to the decline of NT$600 billion in net value since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in 2008, according to a report in the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper).
That has led to a greater financial deficit for the nation than it appears, weakening the central bank’s abilities to deal with the potential rise of consumer prices in the future, Chen added.
However, the central bank rejected Chen’s accusation, saying the bank’s net value totaled NT$985.3 billion as of the end of last month, showing an increase from NT$936.8 billion recorded at the end of May in 2008.
In related news, the nation’s foreign-exchange reserves dropped for the second straight month to hit the lowest level since March due to adverse effects from net outflows made by foreign portfolio investors and the appreciation of the US dollar against other major global currencies, the central bank said yesterday.
The nation’s foreign-exchange reserves shrank by US$2.37 billion from a month ago to US$420.7 billion last month, the bank said in its monthly report.
Bank Department of Foreign Exchange Deputy Director-General Harry Yen (顏輝煌) attributed the decline in foreign-exchange reserves to the depreciation of the euro and other major currencies against the US dollar last month, making decrease in foreign-exchange reserves greater than returns from foreign-exchange reserves management.
Net outflows in Taiwan totaled US$3.02 billion last month, further dragging down the foreign-exchange reserves, Yen said.
The market value of securities investment and the New Taiwan dollar deposits held by foreign portfolio investors at the end of last month reached US$279.9 billion, equivalent to 67 percent of foreign-exchange reserves, the report said.
Taiwan remains the world’s fourth-largest holder of foreign- exchange reserves, behind China, Japan and Russia.
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