Taiwan remained the fifth-largest net creditor last year as its net international investment position (NIIP) hit another new high, the central bank said on Friday.
Taiwan’s external financial assets totaled US$2.91 trillion at the end of last year, up US$247.04 billion, or 9.3 percent, from a year earlier, while the nation’s external financial liabilities reached US$1.17 trillion, up US$183.12 billion, or 18.5 percent, from a year earlier, data compiled by the central bank showed.
The difference between Taiwan’s external financial assets and liabilities hit a new high of US$1.74 trillion, up US$63.92 billion, or 3.8 percent, from a year earlier, positioning the nation as the world’s fifth-largest net creditor, the data showed.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The NIIP is the difference between a country’s external financial assets and its external financial liabilities, the central bank said.
Japan took the top net creditor spot with a NIIP of about US$3.44 trillion last year, followed by Germany (US$3.20 trillion), China (US$2.19 trillion) and Hong Kong (US$1.78 trillion), the central bank said.
The rise in Taiwan’s external financial assets last year stemmed partly from a boom in global stock markets, which pushed up sharply the value of overseas shares held by investors in Taiwan, it said.
Stock markets worldwide rose about 17 percent last year, helping Taiwan’s portfolio investments rise 14.1 percent from a year earlier to US$1.39 trillion, it said.
The nation’s cumulative outbound investments also hit a new high of US$500.14 billion last year, up 10.9 percent from a year earlier, as restructuring of global supply chains led many Taiwanese companies to send more of their funds overseas, it said.
The central bank was referring to companies such as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), which has poured funds into the US, Japan and Germany to build advanced wafer fabs to diversify its production bases.
Taiwan has long maintained a surplus in its current account, which mainly measures the exports and imports of a country’s merchandise and services.
The other big creditors, Japan, Germany and China, have also traditionally been net exporters, though Japan has recorded trade deficits over the past few years.
At the end of last year, Taiwan’s current account hit US$105.33 billion, up from US$100.93 billion as of the end of 2022, the central bank data showed.
External financial liabilities were boosted by cumulative foreign direct investment in Taiwan, which reached a new high of US$136.6 billion last year, up 9.8 percent from a year earlier.
In addition, total portfolio investments in Taiwan by overseas investors were up 33.5 percent from a year earlier to US$710.9 billion, the central bank said.
The higher portfolio numbers reflected, in part, the 26.8 percent rise in the TAIEX last year, it said.
The number of Taiwanese working in the US rose to a record high of 137,000 last year, driven largely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid overseas expansion, according to government data released yesterday. A total of 666,000 Taiwanese nationals were employed abroad last year, an increase of 45,000 from 2023 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. Overseas employment had steadily increased between 2009 and 2019, peaking at 739,000, before plunging to 319,000 in 2021 amid US-China trade tensions, global supply chain shifts, reshoring by Taiwanese companies and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) received about NT$147 billion (US$4.71 billion) in subsidies from the US, Japanese, German and Chinese governments over the past two years for its global expansion. Financial data compiled by the world’s largest contract chipmaker showed the company secured NT$4.77 billion in subsidies from the governments in the third quarter, bringing the total for the first three quarters of the year to about NT$71.9 billion. Along with the NT$75.16 billion in financial aid TSMC received last year, the chipmaker obtained NT$147 billion in subsidies in almost two years, the data showed. The subsidies received by its subsidiaries —
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