Taiwan's central bank yesterday declined to directly comment on whether it will follow in the footsteps of the US Federal Reserve, which announced a surprise 50 basis points cut on its key interest rates overnight.
Lee Sheng-yann (
Lee said the central bank will closely watch and evaluate the impact of the latest Fed cut. But he noted that it was only a few weeks ago that the central bank cut interest rates, indicating that it's too early to establish whether the central bank will soon follow Fed's move.
The central bank last announced cuts to its discount and accommodation rates by 12.5 basis points each to 4.125 percent and 4.5 percent on March 29 after the bank held its quarterly board of governors meeting.
The move was followed by interest rate cuts across the banking sector, which have only begun to slow in recent days.
Lee wouldn't comment on whether the board of governors will convene a special meeting anytime soon to discuss the Fed's rate cut and the central bank's possible reaction.
The next scheduled policy-making meeting for the central bank is in late June.
"What we can see now is that stock markets in the US, Japan and here seem to be rejoicing over the Fed's move, and the US dollar/Japanese yen is also softening. This is the market's most immediate response. As for the longer term, we'll have to wait and see," Lee said.
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