Taiwan will not follow the US in setting its monetary policy, but it would pay attention to global peers’ moves, international raw material price trends and geopolitical risks, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday.
“There is no need for Taiwan to follow the US monetary decisions,” as the US Federal Reserve is widely believed to raise interest rates by 50 basis points next month in another of six more rate hikes for this year to curb inflation, Yang said.
US inflation last month hit 8.5 percent, while Taiwan’s rose 3.27 percent, rendering drastic rate hikes unwarranted, he said.
Photo: CNA
Rather, the central bank will approach the matter by taking into consideration policy moves by global peers, inflationary pressures at home, and international fuel and raw material price movements, he said.
In addition, the central bank will seek to support the nation’s economy to meet its duty, he said.
Yang said he stood by the view that Taiwan could achieve a GDP growth of 4 percent this year, although international research bodies have cut their forecast to an average of 3.8 percent after Russia invaded Ukraine in February and crude prices have since shot up.
Consumer prices in Taiwan are likely to ease next quarter, although the landscape is teeming with uncertainties, Yang said.
The central bank will make its quarterly decisions guided by the latest global and domestic economic data, Yang said, while acknowledging that the ongoing weakening of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback is lending force to inflation.
Consumer prices picked up 0.1 to 0.17 percentage points after the NT dollar recently softened from NT$28 to NT$29 versus the US currency, Yang said, describing the extra inflationary burden as moderate.
A weak NT dollar will not necessarily become a norm, but has much to do with global funds responding to the Fed’s rate hikes and asset adjustments, he said.
“The market will have the final say on the NT dollar’s movements, but it remains the best performer in the past two years, thanks to Taiwan’s robust economy and corporate profitability,” Yang said.
The governor reiterated that the rate hike on March 17 is not aimed at cooling the property market, even though it inevitably sent unfavorable messages.
The central bank would favor selective credit controls to prevent funds from overflowing to the property market, he said.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
RSS