The nation’s money supply continued to post strong growth year-on-year last month as more funds flowed from time and savings deposits to passbook accounts, the central bank said yesterday.
The narrow monetary aggregate of M1B, which refers to currency held by the public and demand deposits, rose 23.51 percent from last year as people terminated time and savings deposits, Dawn Chen (陳一端), deputy chief of the central bank’s economic research department, told a media briefing.
Time savings contracted by 0.39 percent last month, the first decline since November 2007, while funds wired to securities accounts increased by NT$85.1 billion (US$2.63 billion) to a record high of NT$1.19 trillion, Chen said.
Chen attributed the capital movement to vigorous stock transactions last month.
The broad monetary aggregate of M2, which includes M1B and quasi-money, climbed 8.28 percent from last year, the latest data showed.
Chen said net capital inflows of US$7.06 billion accounted for the increase.
The M2 expansion is expected to slow in coming months because of a higher base last year as people redeemed foreign investments and wired funds home because of the global financial crisis, Chen said.
The central bank dismissed concern about M2 growth exceeding its target zone of between 2.5 percent and 6.5 percent.
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