The Currency Composition of Asia’s International Investments

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This paper examines the importance of trade ties, macro-financial volatilities, and US dollar trade invoicing in explaining Asia’s international investment assets and liabilities denominated in world currencies, including the US dollar (USD), euro (EUR), pound sterling (GBP), Japanese yen (JPY) and Chinese yuan (CNY). The results show heterogeneous patterns of relevant covariates across different currencies. More importantly, the estimates offer evidence that the region hedges its currency risk by investing in US dollar denominated assets as greater US dollar trade invoicing significantly covaries with greater debt asset holdings denominated in US dollar.

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