Taiwan ranked the sixth-largest net creditor in the world last year, down one spot from 2023, in the wake of a strong showing by the local stock market, which boosted the nation’s liabilities and pushed down its net international investment position (NIIP), the central bank said on Friday.
Taiwan’s external financial assets totaled US$3.03 trillion at the end of last year, up US$148.17 billion, or 5.1 percent, from a year earlier, central bank data showed.
The country’s external financial liabilities reached US$1.48 trillion, up US$301.15 billion, or 25.6 percent, from a year earlier, which the central bank attributed to the value of equities owned by foreign institutional investors.
Photo: CNA
The difference between Taiwan’s external financial assets and liabilities at the end of last year reached US$1.56 trillion, down US$152.98 billion, or 9 percent from a year earlier, positioning Taiwan as the world’s sixth-biggest net creditor, the data showed.
A country’s international investment position is the balance sheet of residents’ financial assets held in the rest of the world and liabilities to the rest of the world.
The NIIP is the difference between a country’s external financial assets and its external financial liabilities.
Germany was the No. 1 net creditor, with an NIIP of about US$3.64 trillion as of the end of last year, ahead of Japan at US$3.49 trillion, China at US$3.3 trillion, Hong Kong at US$2.04 trillion and Norway at US$1.74 trillion, the central bank said.
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