No major trading partner manipulated dollar in 2023: US Treasury

ISTANBUL

No major trading partner of the US manipulated the rate of exchange between its currency and the American dollar during the year of 2023, according to the Treasury Department.

The agency said Thursday in a statement that none of the major trading countries, comprising about 78% of US foreign trade in goods and services, undertook any manipulation for "purposes of preventing effective balance of payments adjustments or gaining unfair competitive advantage in international trade during the four quarters through December 2023."

However, seven countries are on the Treasury Department's "Monitoring List" that require close attention to their currency practices and macroeconomic policies -- China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and Germany, according to the agency's semiannual report to the US Congress on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States.

"The Report also reiterated Treasury’s call for increased transparency from China," said the statement. "China’s failure to publish foreign exchange intervention and broader lack of transparency around key features of its exchange rate policy make China an outlier among major economies and warrant Treasury’s close monitoring."

During this year, however, Japanese authorities intervened in April and May for the first time since October 2022, purchasing yen and selling dollars, which strengthens the value of the yen, said the report, adding Brazil has also intervened in 2024, also in the direction to strengthen the real.

"Global foreign currency reserves reached $12.3 trillion over the four quarters through end-December 2023, an increase of roughly $415 billion relative to end-2022," the report noted.