Yuan deposits held by Taiwan-based banks rose for the second consecutive month to 311.41 billion yuan (US$45.15 billion) last month, as local lenders raised interest rates to boost yuan operations, the central bank said yesterday.
The figures marked an increase of 0.77 percent from the previous month and bucked the depreciation trend for yuan price movements.
Bank of Taiwan (台銀), Land Bank of Taiwan (土銀), Yuanta Commercial Bank (元大銀) and other lenders offer interest rates from 3.15 to 4 percent for yuan time deposits of different durations, the central bank said.
Rising borrowing demand between banks ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday likely accounted for the upward rate adjustments, the central bank said, adding that corporate customers lent a helping hand by increasing yuan deposits.
Yuan deposits at local banking units rose 0.85 percent to 272.76 billion yuan and rose 0.23 percent to 35.46 billion yuan at offshore units, central bank data showed.
The central bank said in a separate statement that it will publish its quarterly board meeting summary, including information on participating members, their views and votes on issues, from June.
The move aims to make the board’s decisionmaking more transparent and accountable, the central bank said.
Critics have said central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) has run the board in an authoritarian fashion during his tenure, which is to expire in February next year.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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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