Taipei: Taiwan remained the sixth-largest net creditor nation in the world in 2025 despite a fall of over 10 percent in its net international investment position (NIIP) in the year, the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) said Monday. The NIIP is the difference between a country's external financial assets and its external financial liabilities, according to the central bank.

According to Focus Taiwan, the latest annual NIIP report revealed that Taiwan's external financial assets reached US$3.27 trillion at the end of 2025, marking an increase of US$275.75 billion or 9.2 percent from the previous year. This growth was largely due to an increase in holdings of overseas marketable securities by residents in Taiwan and a rise in the value of these securities, as stated by the central bank.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's external financial liabilities surged at a faster pace, hitting a new high of US$1.92 trillion by the end of 2025, which represents an increase of US$438.38 billion or 29.6 percent from the previous year. The difference between the country's external financial assets and liabilities was US$1.35 trillion, making it the sixth largest globally as of the end of 2025. This figure was a decrease of US$162.63 billion, or 10.8 percent, from the previous year.

Tsai Mei-fen, an official from the central bank's Department of Economic Research, reported that the record high in Taiwan's external liabilities in 2025 followed strong performance in the local stock market. This was led by the electronics index, which increased by 35.55 percent amidst the ongoing AI boom. Foreign institutional investors reduced their holdings in Taiwan's stock market with a net fund outflow in 2025, but high share prices, especially in the electronics sector, still increased the value of their holdings.

Foreign institutional investors showed a preference for Taiwan's tech stocks, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. being a top choice, accounting for over 40 percent of the total market value. Taiwan experienced market conditions similar to South Korea last year due to rapidly increasing stock prices, Tsai added.

The previous peak for Taiwan's NIIP was observed at the end of 2023 but declined the following year before recovering last year, driven by a rise in market value held by foreign institutional investors, Tsai noted.

In comparison, Germany held the top net creditor position with a NIIP of about US$4.32 trillion at the end of 2025, followed by China (US$4.07 trillion), Japan (US$3.68 trillion), Hong Kong (US$2.51 trillion), and Norway (US$2.11 trillion), according to the central bank.