Taiwan's Forex Reserves Hit 3rd Straight Monthly High of US$417.9B. in February 2014

Taiwan saw its foreign exchange reserves hit the third consecutive monthly record high of US$417.978 billion in February, making it the world's fourth largest holder of forex reserves, next to China, Japan and Russia, according to the central bank.

The bank attributes the rise in forex reserves to the revenue from forex investments, additional book income from the holdings of euro that appreciated in value against the U.S. dollar, and net inflow of US$722 million in foreign capital.

In February Taiwan saw the sixth consecutive monthly net inflow of foreign capital, for the second longest span of net inflow of such funds, with the longest being seven months from August 2012 to February 2013.

The six months of net inflow of foreign capital accumulated to US$10.455 billion or about NT$315 billion, suggestive of foreign investors' growing confidence in Taiwan.

As of the end of February, the value of Taiwan's stock, bonds and NT dollar deposits held by foreigners amounted to US$248.3 billion, accounting for 59% of the island's total forex reserves.

Due to the recent crisis in Crimea, Ukraine, Russia saw its forex reserves drop by US$5.5 billion to US$493.4 billion as of February 21 and the value of the ruble has depreciated by 9.1% so far this year. (JL)