Taiwan Remains the 6th Largest Net Creditor Nation Globally, Stock Surge Drives Up External Liabilities

The Central Bank of Taiwan today released the country's international investment position as of the end of 2025. Both external assets and liabilities hit new historical highs, with external liabilities approaching the $2 trillion mark, driven by the soaring value of foreign-held stocks due to the strong performance of the Taiwan stock market. After offsetting assets and liabilities, Taiwan remains the 6th largest net creditor nation globally.

The international investment position records the stock of financial assets and liabilities held by a country's central bank, banking sector, government, and private sector with respect to the rest of the world.

According to central bank data, Taiwan's total external assets reached $3.267 trillion at the end of 2025, an increase of $275.75 billion (9.2%) from the end of 2024, primarily due to increased holdings of foreign securities by individuals and rising securities prices.

On the liabilities side, total external liabilities amounted to $1.91736 trillion, a sharp rise of $438.38 billion (29.6% year-on-year) from the previous year.

Tsai Mei-fen, a board member of the central bank's Economic Research Department, stated directly that the key reason for the record-high external liabilities was the 'exceptionally strong performance of the Taiwan stock market.' Statistics show that the electronics stock price index rose 35.55% year-on-year by the end of 2025.

Tsai further explained that while foreign investors continued to take profits and reduce holdings—resulting in net outflows from a flow perspective—their existing stock positions remained large, especially in major electronic stocks. The significant price appreciation led to higher market valuations, and valuation effects pushed external liabilities to new highs.

She added that according to data from the Financial Supervisory Commission, Taiwan and South Korea showed the most notable growth in stock market indices among major global markets last year, highlighting the substantial price fluctuations in Taiwan's equity market.

After offsetting assets and liabilities, Taiwan's net international investment position stood at $1.34964 trillion at the end of 2025, down $162.63 billion (10.8%) from the previous year. This marks the second consecutive year of decline since reaching a record high in 2023, but Tsai emphasized that this is not a negative development, as Taiwan's outbound investment in both volume and value has grown—the decline being mainly due to the strong domestic market boosting foreign-held equity values.

In the global ranking of net international investment positions as of the end of 2025, Germany ranked first with $4.3 trillion, followed by mainland China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Norway. Taiwan secured the 6th position.