Central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) yesterday said that there is no need to adjust interest rates if economic conditions remain the same as three months earlier.
“Guided by economic data at home and abroad, the central bank decided to leave policy rates unchanged in December last year... I do not see reasons for a change if the state of the economy is about the same,” Yang said at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee in Taipei.
The central bank is to review policy rates at its quarterly board meeting on March 21, after holding the rediscount rate steady at 1.375 percent for the past 10 quarters.
Research institutes have voiced similar views, saying an economic slowdown and mild inflation would give the central bank room to maintain its lenient monetary policy to help support the economy.
A rate cut is also unlikely as the central bank is anticipating GDP growth of 2.33 percent for this year, slightly higher than the 2.27 percent pickup predicted by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).
Taiwan has taken a hit from the US-China trade dispute and an ongoing global technology cyclical correction.
Yang said he is confident that the nation’s export-oriented economy could grow at least 2 percent this year, from 2.63 percent last year, despite global headwinds.
“The slowdown is not serious so long as the trade tension does not escalate beyond control and have a limited impact on the global economy,” Yang said.
The dispute might linger for another three to five years as the US and China have had difficulty ironing out differences over intellectual property protection and corporate subsidies.
The US-China trade deficit could be resolved in a short period of time, but it would take greater efforts to address structural issues, such as intellectual protection and government subsidies for industries, Yang said.
Consumer price growth is unlikely to surpass its 2 percent benchmark, in the absence of major increases in average wages and international crude oil prices, he said.
Crude oil prices would have to surge from US$65 a barrel to US$100 or higher to push the inflationary gauge over the 2 percent mark, he said.
The DGBAS last month forecast that inflation would grow 0.73 percent this year.
Yang added that expectations of a global slowdown have diminished chances of rate hikes — from twice to none — by the US Federal Reserve for this year.
As for Taiwan, the central bank’s decision would be guided by major economic data, Yang said.
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
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
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