The US has replaced China as the nation’s largest debtor, as domestic banks increased their stakes in US debt last quarter from three months earlier, the central bank said yesterday.
The shift fell in with global fund movements amid earlier expectations of interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve and capital outflows from China.
As of December last year, the local banking industry had international claims of US$64.76 billion to the US, followed by China with US$49.21 billion, according to a quarterly country risk report issued by the central bank.
The banking sector’s international claims amounted to US$344.6 billion at the end of last year, up 1.72 percent from the preceding quarter, the report showed.
The increase came because local banks built up positions in foreign debts issued by governments and private lenders, the central bank said.
The low interest rates in Taiwan’s home market had driven local funds abroad to seek higher yields in foreign assets, especially in yuan-related investments, thereby raising concerns over rapidly growing exposure to China.
The worry subsided much last quarter as evidenced by the international claim statistics that aim to measure banks’ country risk.
With the latest data, exposure to China retreated as it became the nation’s second-largest debtor after the US, following five quarters running as its largest debtor, thanks to regulatory requirements and yuan volatility.
However, China ranked first on an ultimate risk basis, which calculates a nation’s consolidated debts after risk transfers.
According to the central bank’s statistics, Taiwanese banks’ lending to China totaled US$64.98 billion at the end of December, compared with US$70.12 billion at the end of September, but higher than the US$61.08 billion extended to the US, the report found.
The London Metal Exchange (LME) discovered bags of stones instead of the nickel that underpinned a handful of its contracts at a warehouse in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in a revelation that would deliver another blow to confidence in the embattled exchange. The amount of metal represents just 0.14 percent of live nickel inventories on the LME, worth about US$1.3 million at current prices, so the immediate effect on the metals markets is limited. However, the shock announcement has much wider implications. In an industry riddled with scandals, the LME’s contracts are viewed as unquestionably safe. The news that even a few of
Oil on Friday posted its worst weekly loss since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic as banking turmoil poisoned investor sentiment. West Texas Intermediate for April delivery dropped 2.36 percent to US$66.74 per barrel, falling 12.96 percent for the week, the largest drop in almost three years. Brent crude for May delivery fell 2.32 percent to US$72.97, posting a weekly loss of 11.85 percent. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank and troubles at Credit Suisse Group AG drove investors from risk assets, with oil-options covering accelerating the sell-off. “Crude action this week reminded many of how quickly the commodity can be decimated by
Singapore pushed New York off the top spot for the strongest growth in residential rents in the final quarter of last year, fueled by a supply crunch and strong demand. The city-state saw annual rents jump 28 percent in the quarter from a year earlier, Knight Frank said in a report. New York followed with 19 percent growth, while London and Toronto took the third and fourth spots, a survey of prime residential rents across 10 cities showed. Singapore’s soaring rents — driven partly due to a lack of supply of new housing during the COVID-19 pandemic — have been a source of
US-based mobile chip designer Qualcomm Inc yesterday opened a manufacturing engineering and testing center in Hsinchu, expanding its presence in Taiwan. Qualcomm also expects to accelerate its purchases in Taiwan, which already rose to NT$240 billion (US$7.9 billion) last year, up from NT$90 billion five years earlier, and should hit NT$300 billion next year. The center is to provide services for the supply chain in the semiconductor industry, Roawen Chen (陳若文), senior vice president and chief supply chain and operations officer of Qualcomm, said at the facility’s inauguration ceremony. It is Qualcomm’s largest and most advanced engineering testing center outside of the company’s
RSS