Central Bank of China

PRESS RELEASE Release Date: August 20, 2003




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BALANCE OF PAYMENTS

For the second quarter of 2003, the current account registered a surplus of US$6.58 billion, and the net outflow in financial account amounted to US$2.09 billion, while reserves increased by US$5.82 billion.

In terms of the current account, both exports and imports showed moderate growth. Exports grew 3.7% year on year, while imports expanded 5.5%, leading to a surplus in the trade balance of US$5.68 billion for the quarter. Services deficit decreased by 22.9% to US$0.86 billion, mainly due to an increase in net receipts from merchanting trade. Besides, travel receipts and payments declined sharply owing to the SARS outbreak. Travel receipts came to US$0.39 billion, down by US$0.76 billion or 66.5% and travel payments totaled US$1.13 billion, down by US$0.63 billion or 35.8%. Income surplus amounted to US$2.4 billion. Current transfers deficit was US$0.64 billion. In total, the current account registered a surplus of US$6.58 billion.

In regard to the financial account, direct investment and portfolio investment posted net outflows of US$0.76 billion and US$7.14 billion, respectively, while other investments exhibited a net inflow of US$5.81 billion.

Compared with the corresponding quarter last year, net direct investment outflow decreased by 40.9%, with direct investment abroad by residents decreasing by 22.9% to US$1.09 billion, and direct investment in Taiwan by non-residents rising by 166% to US$0.33 billion. Portfolio investment outflow hit the highest quarterly figure on record, mainly because portfolio investment abroad by residents posted a net outflow of US$12.46 billion, the highest quarterly outflow figure. Of this amount, equity and debt securities accounted for US$8.35 billion and US$4.11 billion, respectively. Nevertheless, portfolio investment by non-residents in the local market continued to show a net inflow of US$5.31 billion, the second highest quarterly inflow in history. Other investments recorded a net inflow of US$5.81 billion. Of this amount, the banking sector recorded an inflow of US$3.8 billion as borrowing from overseas branches.

For the first half of this year, the current account surplus accumulated to US$14.02 billion, the capital account deficit was US$0.04 billion and the financial account posted a net outflow of US$3.39 billion with reserves rising by US$11.72 billion.

Tables [EXCEL][PDF]


Notes: 1.The upcoming balance of payments data will be released at 16:20 on November 20, 2003.

2.For the release schedule for the next six months, check the CBC website at http://www.cbc.gov.tw/account/index.html.