Onshore yuan-denominated deposits last month dropped for the sixth consecutive month to 186.047 billion yuan (US$6.12 billion), a 4.69 percent decline from a month earlier and the lowest in nearly nine years, data released by the central bank on Wednesday showed.
The monthly decrease of 9.158 billion yuan from 195.205 billion yuan in December last year also marked the largest decline since local banks began accepting yuan deposits in 2013, an indication that investors have lost interest in the Chinese currency.
Onshore yuan deposits include those at local banks’ domestic banking units (DBUs) and those at offshore banking units (OBUs) in Taiwan.
Photo: Bloomberg
Central bank data showed that yuan deposits at DBUs decreased 5.3 percent from the previous month to 157.693 billion yuan, while those in OBUs fell 1.14 percent to 28.354 billion yuan.
The central bank said the monthly drop of 8.83 billion yuan deposited at DBUs last month came as some companies remitted money to Taiwan and deposited in US dollars after recovering previous investments in yuan-denominated equity bonds or receiving dividend income, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) reported last week.
Additionally, some local manufacturers wired money abroad to repay yuan-based loans or make new investments, which also helped reduce the overall balance of yuan deposits last month, the Liberty Times said.
A decrease of 328 million yuan in OBU deposits from the previous month was due to some companies wiring money abroad for external financing, it added.
The US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes have led to US dollar deposits gaining appeal over yuan deposits for institutional and individual investors given the widening interest spreads, the Liberty Times reported, citing the central bank.
Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) is offering Taiwan’s highest interest rate on one-month yuan time deposits, at 3.15 percent, while Jih Sun International Bank (日盛銀行) provides the highest for three-month yuan time deposits, at 2 percent, central bank data showed.
The highest interest rate for six-month, nine-month and one-year yuan time deposits are 2.28 percent at SinoPac, 1.4 percent at Taiwan Business Bank (臺灣企銀) and 2.2 percent at Sunny Bank (陽信銀行) respectively, the data showed.
Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) is offering interest rates above 4 percent for three-month and six-month US dollar time deposits, First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) offers 3.88 percent for one-month US dollar time deposits and Bank of Taiwan’s (臺灣銀行) nine-month to one-year US dollar time deposits pay 4.288 percent, the data showed.
NXP Semiconductors NV expects its first automotive-grade 5-nanometer chip built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to become available for automakers within one-and-a-half years at the earliest, following demand for better computing performance and energy efficiency for connected vehicles, a company executive said yesterday. That would mean a significant upgrade from the 16-nanometer technology NXP adopted in its existing series of microprocessors. NXP chief technology executive Lars Reger made the remarks during a media briefing yesterday in Taipei. The latest updates came after NXP unveiled its plan to source 5-nanometer capacity from TSMC in 2021. This is Reger’s first trip to
EVADING US CONTROLS? ‘These surveillance chips are relatively easy to manufacture compared to smartphone processors,’ a source said about HiSilicon’s components A Huawei Technologies Co (華為) unit is shipping new Chinese-made chips for surveillance cameras in a fresh sign that the Chinese tech giant is finding ways around four years of US export controls, two sources briefed on the unit’s efforts said. The shipments to surveillance camera manufacturers from the company’s chip design unit, HiSilicon Technologies Co (海思半導體), started this year, said one of the sources and a third source familiar with the industry supply chain. One of the sources briefed on the unit said that at least some of the customers were Chinese. Huawei unveiled new smartphones in the past few weeks that
CENTRAL BANK: The consumer price index would grow while core CPI is set to move forward at a milder rate, the governor said, adding that the GDP forecast is down The central bank yesterday kept its policy rate unchanged for the second straight quarter, saying that a rate pause would help support the economy, as consumer prices have moderated and would return to the 2 percent target next year. “The board gave unanimous support to a policy hold, although some members voiced concern over lingering inflationary pressures and called for close monitoring,” central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a media briefing after its quarterly board meeting. The consumer price index (CPI) would grow 1.83 percent next year, while core CPI after stripping out volatile items would advance a milder 1.73 percent,
SLUMP: The electronics, machinery and traditional industries posted the largest decline in the past year; overall, sectors showed gains over the previous month Taiwan’s industrial production index decreased 10.53 percent year-on-year to 91.38 last month, falling for a 15th consecutive month on an annual basis, as weak global economic growth continued to weigh on end-market demand and investment momentum, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Saturday. The industrial production index gauges output in Taiwan’s four main industries: manufacturing, electricity and gas supply, water supply, and mining and quarrying. Last month’s decline was the smallest contraction since March when the index dropped 16.03 percent from a year earlier. On a monthly basis, the index rose 7.28 percent, marking a second straight month of improvement,