After years of building their foreign-exchange reserves, central banks in Asia are tapping into their stockpiles to bolster their weakening currencies against a rising US dollar.
Thai reserves slid to $221.4 billion as of June 17, in data released late last week. That was the lowest in more than two years. Monthly figures show that Indonesia’s stash is at the smallest since November 2020. Reserves in South Korea and India are at their lowest in more than a year. Malaysia’s stockpile, meanwhile, has fallen the most since 2015.
“Some countries would have used their reserves to stabilize their currencies when moves were excessive,” said Rajeev De Mello, a global macro portfolio manager at GAMA Asset Management in Geneva. “They know that they can’t reverse their currencies’ weakness against the USD, but they can smooth the declines.”
