RISING TAIWAN DOLLAR CAUSES FOREIGN RESERVES LOSS
Taiwan said its foreign reserves suffered
about 3.4 billion U.S. Dlrs in exchange rate losses from July
1986 to February 1987 as a result of the rise of the Taiwan
dollar against the U.S. Currency.
    Yu Chien-ming, head of the government statistics
department, told parliament yesterday he expected the losses to
increase as the Taiwan dollar continues to strengthen.
    The Taiwan dollar, which opened at 34.24 to the U.S. Dollar
today, has risen about 16 pct against the U.S. Unit since
September 1985. Some bankers expect it to rise to 33 by June
and to 32 by the end of this year.
    Taiwan's foreign exchange reserves now total 53 billion
dlrs. At end-February they were 52.1 billion dlrs, the world's
third largest after West Germany and Japan.
    Yu said the interest earned from the reserves totalled
about 1.68 billion U.S. Dlrs from July 1986 to February 1987.
The reserves are managed by the central bank and deposited at
about 170 leading banks in the U.S., Japan, Britain, Canada and
Singapore.
    About 75 pct of the reserves are in the form of cash,
mostly in U.S. Dollars. The rest are in government treasury
bills, certificates of deposit and bonds.
 REUTER
