Taiwan's central bank governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said the island's exposure to U.S. dollar-denominated assets remains well within manageable limits, pushing back against an International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment that flagged Taiwan as having the world's highest level of currency exposure among major economies.
The IMF'sGlobal Financial Stability Report, published in October, estimated Taiwan's dollar-denominated asset exposure at roughly 45 times the depth of its foreign exchange market trading volume—far higher than South Korea's 25 times and Japan's 20 times.
Speaking at a Legislative Yuan Finance Committee hearing on Sunday, Yang said the central bank's own calculations place the exposure ratio closer to 20 times, a level he described as firmly within the authorities' risk management capacity.
“The IMF does not have a clear understanding of Taiwan's actual situation,” Yang told lawmakers, adding that the Fund's past forecasts for Taiwan's economic growth had also shown significant gaps. He said the IMF's assessment would be taken as a reference, but not as a basis for immediate policy concern.
Yang noted that the central bank would not issue a formal response to the IMF, unlike a previous episode in which it wrote to The Economist to dispute claims that the Taiwan dollar was undervalued.
The hearing focused on the broader economic implications of ongoing Taiwan–U.S. trade discussions, including corporate investment commitments and government credit guarantees of approximately $250 billion each. Some lawmakers have raised concerns that such large cross-border financial flows could strain Taiwan's foreign exchange market.
Yang rejected those concerns, saying foreign currency liquidity in Taiwan remains ample in both stock and flow terms, and that there is no immediate need to draw on foreign exchange reserves.
According to a central bank report, Taiwan continues to post significant excess savings, estimated at around NTD$5.42 trillion ($170 billion) for 2025—sufficient to support both domestic and overseas corporate investment. Taiwan also maintains persistent trade surpluses, a healthy balance of payments, and extremely low levels of external debt.
As of the end of 2024, Taiwan's net international investment position stood at approximately $1.56 trillion. Foreign exchange reserves are projected to reach about $602.6 billion by the end of 2025, while private-sector foreign currency deposits held in domestic banks totaled roughly $301.1 billion, with U.S. dollar-denominated assets accounting for around 80 percent of the total.
Taken together, Yang said, these factors indicate that Taiwan's foreign currency funding environment remains robust, despite heightened global attention to currency risk and capital flows.
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