Taiwan's central bank will probably leave interest rates unchanged at its quarterly board meeting tomorrow, after cutting them half a percentage point to a record low last week, analysts said.
Economists expect the central bank to leave its rediscount rate, charged to commercial lenders for 10-day loans, at 2.75 percent. The bank, which has lowered rates two percentage points since December, may wait for further US cuts before its next move, analysts said.
"Asian central banks are not in the driving seat," said Andy Xie, chief Asian economist at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. "They have to take their cues from the leading central banks because of the global recession."
The central bank will announce its decision tomorrow at about 5pm, local time.
Last week, US Federal Reserve policy makers cut their benchmark interest rate half a percentage point to 3 percent after terrorist attacks in the US threatened to tip the world's biggest economy into recession and slow world growth. Central banks across Europe and Asia followed.
Taiwan matched the reduction at an unscheduled meeting a day later, lowering its key rate by the biggest margin in 10 years, in an effort to cushion the impact of the attacks on an economy already in its worst slump in a quarter century.
Further US rate cuts will leave room for Taiwan's central bank to reduce its key rate another half-point to 2.25 percent by year-end, according to the median forecast of economists polled. Economists expect the Fed to lower interest rates at its meeting next Tuesday and again before the end of the year.
With exports tumbling and unemployment at a record low, Taiwan is seeking to boost the economy by lowering borrowing costs.
The economy shrank 2.35 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, and the government said last month the decline would probably be sharper this quarter.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique