REER Index of NT Dollar Rises 5th Consecutive Month to 101.25 in September

The real effective exchange rate (REER) index for the New Taiwan dollar rose for the fifth consecutive month to 101.25 in September, the highest of its kind since July 2010, according to the Taipei Foreign Exchange Market Development Foundation (TFEMDF).

Insiders say that the Japanese yen has depreciated against the greenback since September, so have most Asian currencies, but with the modest depreciation of the NT dollar undermining Taiwan’s export competitiveness globally.

Nevertheless, based on the statistics released by the Bank for International Settlement (BIS), the REER index of NT dollar had been lower than that of South Korean won for 14 straight months prior to September, to have made Taiwan more preferable by global buyers than S. Korea in quotations globally.

In September most Asian currencies devalued against the U.S. dollar, with the Japanese yen dropping 5.12%, the Korean won down 3.9%, the Malaysian ringgit and the Indonesian rupiah each down  3.5%. In the same month the filipino peso dropped 3% while the Singaporean dollar shrank 2% and the Thai baht slightly fell 1.37%. However, China’s renminbi edged up 0.06% against the U.S. dollar during the month. (JL)