The central bank is to focus on inflation in an upcoming quarterly policy meeting, as the public has been affected by rising prices, bank Deputy Governor Yen Tzung-ta (嚴宗大) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee in Taipei yesterday.
Yen said the bank considers three factors — economic growth, financial stabilization and inflation — when it adjusts its monetary policy.
Inflation has weighed more in the central bank’s consideration, as the consumer price index (CPI) has risen by more than 2 percent — an alert level set by the central bank — for 19 months in a row, Yen said.
Photo: CNA
Such a long period of high growth in the CPI has boosted public expectation that it is likely to continue to rise, Yen said.
Taiwan’s CPI rose by 2.74 percent over the first two months of this year compared with the same period last year, and by 2.43 percent last month alone, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said.
Inflation could rise further, as the government decided last week to raise electricity rates by an average of 11 percent starting on Saturday next week.
The power tariff hike is expected to result in an increase of 0.204 percentage points to the CPI, the DGBAS said.
The central bank has scheduled its next quarterly policy meeting for Thursday.
Market analysts have said the central bank might leave key interest rates unchanged to boost the economy at a time when Taiwan’s exports have been affected by weakening global demand.
Taiwan’s outbound shipments last month fell 17.1 percent year-on-year to US$31.05 billion, marking the sixth consecutive month of annual decline.
The central bank since March last year has raised rates by 62.5 basis points in an effort to combat inflation.
In the last policy meeting held in December last year, the central bank estimated the nation’s GDP would grow 2.53 percent this year by taking into account Taiwan’s weaker export performance.
Yen said the central bank would announce an update of its forecast after Thursday’s meeting.
Responding to the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in the US, Yen said the US Federal Reserve might slow its pace of hikes in the current rate hike cycle, which is likely to stabilize global financial markets.
The Fed is to begin a two-day policy meeting starting today.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
The US said it plans to help build a first-of-its-kind industrial hub in the Philippines to boost production of inputs crucial to US supply chains. The 4,000-acre hub is intended to be “a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing” and “an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand,” the US Department of State said on Thursday. The project — touted as an “economic security zone” — would be within the Luzon Economic Corridor, a flagship economic project backed by the US and Japan on the main Philippine island. The project was also described as “the first artificial intelligence
RSS