Taiwan's inflation held below 1 percent for the seventh month and spurred speculation that the central bank could pause next month after raising interest rates at every review since September 2004.
Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent last month from a year earlier, after climbing a revised 0.71 percent in December, Taiwan's bureau of statistics said in a statement in Taipei yesterday.
Tame inflation and a forecast of slowing economic growth could lead the central bank to pause on rate increases. Policy makers have raised borrowing costs to stem outflows of money and keep the currency stable. Taiwan's benchmark rate remains about half the US Federal Reserve's 5.25 percent.
"I see no valid reason for the central bank to raise rates in March," said Johnson Hsu, an economist at Jih Sun Securities Ltd (日盛證券). "January's inflation was quite moderate." Wholesale prices rose 7.2 percent after gaining a revised 6.4 percent in December, the statistics bureau said.
The bureau in November forecast the nation's economic growth would fall to 4.14 percent this year from an estimated 4.39 percent last year because of slowing exports. Overseas sales represent approximately half of Taiwan's economy.
The central bank raised the benchmark interest rate to a five-year high of 2.75 percent in December, the lowest among Asian countries except Japan. The central bank increased the key rate by 12.5 basis points at each of the past nine quarterly meetings.
"Taiwan's inflation is under control for the moment," said Ma Tieying, an economist at DBS Bank in Singapore, before the announcement. "As growth is slowing and inflation pressure is so moderate, the central bank could pause its rate hikes." Still, the central bank could "prefer to normalize its interest rates to a neutral level" rather than call a temporary halt to increases, Ma said.
Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) said last month that the benchmark rate had yet to reach the "neutral level" where it neither fuels nor curbs inflation and growth, suggesting more rate rises.
Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy costs, fell 0.09 percent last month from a year earlier after climbing a revised 0.68 percent in the previous month.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last