Taiwan has about 422 tonnes of gold in reserve, held by the central bank to support the value of the national currency, a central bank official said yesterday.
Of that amount, 410 tonnes is retained as an asset for the issuance of New Taiwan dollars, the official added.
The remaining reserve is utilized, normally once every four years, to mint commemorative gold coins for the inauguration of Taiwan’s newly elected president and vice president, the official said.
Photo: Bloomberg
Taiwan was 12th in the World Gold Council’s latest rankings of global gold reserves in the first quarter. The top three countries were the US, Germany and Italy.
Based on NT dollar banknotes already in circulation, the central bank said it has the equivalent amount in liquid assets, currently in the form of gold and foreign exchange reserves.
The purpose is to support and guarantee the value of the national currency, as gold has always played an important role in the international monetary system, it added.
Gold reserves serve as a key risk management tool for countries in times of crisis, as they provide a buffer against unforeseen events such as war and financial instability, it said.
Although gold prices have skyrocketed in recent years, the central bank said it is neither adding to nor selling its gold reserve.
Most of the gold the central bank holds was purchased in the 1970s to balance the trade surplus between Taiwan and the US, it said.
During that period, gold was valued at less than US$400 per ounce and has since soared to US$2,450 per ounce. With a weakening NT dollar, the country’s unrealized gain has reached nearly NT$900 billion (US$27.87 billion).
An unrealized gain or loss is the change in the value of a stock, bond or other asset that was purchased, but has not yet been sold.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
RSS