Taipei: Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves reached a record high at the end of April as the central bank intervened in the forex market to purchase U.S. dollars, thereby limiting the appreciation of the Taiwan dollar, the bank announced on Tuesday.

According to Focus Taiwan, data from the central bank indicated that the country held US$582.83 billion in forex reserves by the end of April, marking an increase of US$4.81 billion from the previous month. Tsai Chiung-min, head of the central bank’s Foreign Exchange Department, attributed this growth to the central bank’s intervention aimed at curbing the Taiwan dollar’s rise against the U.S. dollar. By purchasing the greenback, the bank sought to mitigate market volatility.

Following the announcement of significant “reciprocal” tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump on April 2, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the dollar’s strength against six major currencies, dropped below the critical 100 mark during the month. Consequently, the U.S. dollar depreciated by 3.64 percent against the Taiwan dollar in April. Tsai noted that when non-U.S. dollar assets in the forex reserves were converted to the greenback, the reserves saw an increase.

Tsai further explained that an uptick in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management operations contributed to the growth of the forex market at the end of April. Central bank data also revealed an increase in the value of foreign investors’ holdings of Taiwan-listed stocks and bonds, along with Taiwan dollar-denominated deposits, which rose to US$721.9 billion at the end of April from US$708.9 billion at the end of March. These holdings accounted for 124 percent of Taiwan’s total forex reserves at the end of April, up from 123 percent at the end of March.

The local central bank has expressed its commitment to maintaining sufficient forex reserves to ensure the stability of domestic financial markets and to safeguard against any abrupt withdrawal of funds by foreign institutional investors.