INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Asian governments spent about $50 billion in foreign-exchange reserves last month -- the highest level since March 2020 -- to defend their
currencies from a relentless advance in the US dollar.
Exante Data Inc., a firm that specializes in tracking global capital flows,
estimates emerging Asian nations excluding China spent nearly $30 billion with dollar sales in the spot market in September alone
That number rises to $50 billion when Japan is included.
Dollar sales in the region over the first nine months of the year have reached
approximately $89 billion including Japan, marking the most active period for foreign-exchange expenditures since at least 2008, according
The firm bases its estimates on data from central banks and other government authorities and adjusts them for changes in foreign-exchange
rates.
The increase comes as the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, is
trading at an all-time high in the aftermath of the most aggressive hiking of interest rates since the 1980s
sales by countries including South Korea, India, Taiwan and Japan have been largely well publicized, activity by other countries was
documented mostly through central bank reporting
drop to its lowest level in more than 30 years on Thursday bringing back chatters of possible action from Japanese authorities after the
pick up in activity last month.
To be sure, Asian governments have frequently resorted to intervention in foreign-exchange markets in the
past to slow down or control volatility, as well as weaken currencies
part from a broader re-allocation of assets as well as declining valuations, Etra said
But to a large degree comes down to central banks needing to sell reserves in order to have cash at hand.
Foreign-exchange reserves are
The global reserves stockpile declined more than $1 trillion, or 8.9%, this year to less than $12 trillion, the biggest drop since Bloomberg
started to compile the data in 2003
