TAIWAN FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES HIT RECORD HIGH
  Taiwan's foreign exchange reserves, bouyed
  by rising exports, have hit a record high and are likely to
  soar to 72 billion U.S. Dlrs by the year end, central bank
  officials said Tuesday.
      Central Bank Governor Chang Chi-cheng told reporters the
  reserves totalled about 69 billion U.S. Dlrs, compared with
  about 42 billion at the same time last year and 68 billion on
  October 5. He declined to elaborate.
      A senior bank official, who declined to be named, told
  Reuters the reserves were likely to reach 72 billion dlrs at
  the end of the year.
      "The surge in reserves is the result of our trade surplus
  and recent purchases of U.S. Dollars on the local interbank
  market," Chang said.
      Taiwan's trade surplus hit a record 14.95 billion U.S. Dlrs
  in the first nine months of 1987 compared with 11.05 billion a
  year earlier, official figures show.
      Vice Economic Minister Wang Chien-hsien said the surplus
  will rise to about 20 billion dlrs by the end of the year.
  About 80 pct of the surplus will come from the island's trade
  with the United States. 
      Chien said Taiwan's trade will reach 80 billion U.S. Dlrs
  this year compared with 63.96 billion last year.
      Its exports are expected to total 50 billion and imports 30
  billion against exports of 39.79 billion and imports of 24.17
  billion last year.
  

