The nation’s M2 money supply, a broad measure of money flowing through the banking system, rose 4.12 percent year-on-year last month on growing bank loans and investments amid an economic recovery, the central bank said yesterday.
This is the third consecutive month that the monetary supply indicator — which includes M1B, time deposits, time savings deposits and foreign currency deposits — posted an increase, Yen Tzung-ta (嚴宗大), head of the central bank’s economic research department, told a press briefing.
Yen said M2 growth should continue its modest uptick for the rest of this year and average 4.5 percent for the full year. The central bank has set its M2 growth target between 2.5 percent and 6.5 percent for this year.
However, growth in the narrower M1B gauge, which covers currency in circulation and demand deposits, slowed to 12.49 percent year-on-year last month, from an increase of 13.22 percent in June, as more funds flowed from time deposits to passbook deposits, the central bank said.
Central bank data showed that time and savings deposits fell 1.08 percent year-on-year to NT$12.04 trillion (US$376 billion) as of July 31, while demand deposits picked up 12.47 percent to NT$9.82 trillion.
Yen dismissed comments linking the M1B and the local bourse’s performance, saying the measure at the end of last month was higher than the level a year earlier.
“Money wired to securities accounts increased by NT$88.1 billion to NT$1.21 trillion last month,” Yen said.
He said the TAIEX climbed to an average of 7,639 points last month, from 7,383 in June, while daily turnover grew from NT$79.7 billion to NT$101.6 billion.
He said he expected more funds to flow to demand deposits in the coming months, but said the trend probably had more to do with low interest rates and a recovering risk appetite.
Last month saw a net outflow of US$837 million by foreign funds, Yen said, refusing to elaborate.
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