The central bank is likely to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.375 percent this week for the fourth consecutive quarter, market observers said yesterday.
The central bank will likely leave rates unchanged when its board meets on Thursday because there are no clear signs of economic recovery and considerable uncertainty still exists in international financial markets, analysts said.
The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday lifted its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, its third rate hike in six months, and said it would cut its balance sheet by reducing its bond and securities holdings later this year.
A local bank executive said Taiwan’s economic recovery remains sluggish, and an easy money policy is still needed to support economic growth, so the central bank is likely leave its benchmark discount rate unchanged.
While the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) expects economic growth to exceed 2 percent this year, indicators such as the National Development Council’s composite monitoring indicator and the purchasing managers’ index have slid, raising questions about the strength of Taiwan’s recovery.
DBS Bank Ltd on Friday also said that there is little reason for the central bank to follow the Fed, as an accommodative monetary policy is still needed to support Taiwan’s economic growth.
“GDP growth appears to have slowed in the second quarter, given the weakness in trade and industrial production data in April,” the Singapore-based bank said in a note. “While the Taiwanese government has announced increased public infrastructure spending to boost domestic demand, the ratification and implementation process still takes time.”
Taiwan’s inflation pressure has eased notably compared with the previous quarter, which also reduced the need for policy tightening, DBS said.
“Food prices may rise from this month onwards as the typhoon season arrives, b ut the renewed decline in global oil prices, coupled with the strength in the New Taiwan dollar, should help to keep inflation in check,” DBS said.
Moreover, with little sign in the money market lately that the central bank has begun to withdraw liquidity, it is not expected to raise the benchmark rate soon, DBS added.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained