■ Credit card volume rises
The outstanding balance of revolving credit in credit cards accumulated to NT$492.9 billion (US$14.7 billion) at the end of October, up 10.2 percent year on year, according to statistics released on Monday by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS). As of Oct. 31, there were 51 credit card issuers operating in Taiwan, while the number of credit cards in circulation reached 45.74 million, up 6.5 percent from the same period last year. There were around 24.54 million cards activated in the last six months, an annual growth rate of 1.7 percent, the statistics showed. The ratio of overdue bills from activated cards was 2.45 percent of payments, representing year-on-year growth of 2.11 percent. The credit amount in the period between January and October reached NT$1.2 trillion, a growth of 15.9 percent over the level of the same period last year, while cash advances hit NT$185 billion, with year-on-year growth of 11.9 percent, according to the DGBAS. Meanwhile, there were 33 cash card issuers at the end of October, the DGBAS tallies showed, indicating about 3.67 million cash cards had been used for loans of NT$313.3 billion, up 41.1 percent year on year.
■ NT dollar strengthens
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday gained ground against its US counterpart, bolstered by the yen ahead of a possible interest rate hike in the US, dealers said. The local currency rose NT$0.056 to close at NT$33.498 on the Taipei foreign exchange market, on turnover of US$731 million, up from US$691 million the previous day.
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