Central bank governor Chang Chi-chengrejected a request by textile makers to halt the rise of the
Taiwan dollar against the U.S. Dollar to stop them losing
orders to South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore, a spokesman for
the Taiwan Textile Federation said.
    He quoted Chang as telling representatives of 19 textile
associations last Saturday the government could not fix the
Taiwan dollar exchange rate at 35 to one U.S. Dollar due to
U.S. Pressure for an appreciation of the local currency.
    The Federation asked the government on February 19 to hold
the exchange rate at that level.
    The federation said in its request that many local textile
exporters were operating without profit and would go out of
business if the rate continued to fall.
 Reuter
