The nation’s monetary aggregates posted modest gains last month as people transferred time and savings deposits to passbook savings accounts and some channeled funds to the local bourse, the central bank said yesterday.
The narrower M1B gauge, which refers to currency held by the public and demand deposits, rose 1.88 percent last month from a month earlier, said Dawn Chen (陳一端), deputy chief of the central bank’s economic research department.
The broad M2 money supply measure, which includes M1B and quasi-money, namely time deposits, time savings deposits and foreign currency deposits, edged up 0.74 percent last month from the previous month. However, the year-on-year growth in M1B accelerated to 2.71 percent and M2 slowed to 6.19 percent last month from the previous month, Chen said, citing seasonal factors and a higher base effect.
Chen said the central bank’s loose monetary policy appeared to be successful in directing idle funds to the stock market, as seen in the rallies on the TAIEX.
Money wired to securities delivery accounts jumped NT$44.5 billion (US$1.31 billion) to NT$774.4 billion last month, while the stock index rebounded from 4,260 points at the start of the month to 4,557 at the end.
For the first time since 2007, demand deposits grew 3.22 percent last month, another encouraging sign, Chen said.
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