The US remained Taiwan’s largest debtor nation in the first quarter of the year, although domestic banks’ exposure to the world’s largest economy decreased, as the COVID-19 pandemic drove local investors to redeem foreign funds, the central bank said on Wednesday.
Taiwanese banks’ direct risk exposure to the US stood at US$84.36 billion, while ultimate risk exposure — after factoring in risk transfers — was US$83.89 billion, down from record highs of US$89.75 billion and US$86.36 billion respectively three months earlier, the central bank said in a report.
Despite the retreat, the US topped other debtor destinations for the 19th consecutive quarter, as earlier interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve attracted global funds to US investment instruments, the report said.
However, wild swings last quarter across global financial markets prompted Taiwanese investors to terminate their investments in US dollar-based mutual funds, it said.
The markets remain volatile as funds continue to seek safe havens following aggressive rate cuts by central banks worldwide to pre-empt credit crunches, while COVID-19 infections continue to spike in the US, several European nations, Russia and Brazil as well as some Asian and Middle Eastern nations.
China came in second, with Taiwanese banks’ exposure totaling US$46.1 billion on a direct-risk basis and US$66.9 billion on an ultimate-risk basis, the report said.
Yuan-denominated investment tools have lost their appeal amid a spate of rate cuts and depreciation of the Chinese currency, it said.
Hong Kong placed third, with an increase in direct-risk exposure to US$37.04 billion and ultimate-risk exposure to US$25.25 billion after local banks wired money to their Hong Kong branches to cope with earlier liquidity tightness, the report said.
Overall, Taiwan’s direct-risk exposure fell 3.4 percent to US$438.5 billion, while ultimate-risk exposure decreased by 2.97 percent to US$423.2 billion, the report showed.
Advanced economies accounted for 51.05 percent of the total, followed by developing markets at 25.85 percent, it showed.
Asian and Pacific nations made up 48 percent, while American and Caribbean regions accounted for 29.85 percent, it added.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
RSS