The central bank yesterday said that its inflation forecast for this year might be revised to above 2 percent.
Predictions for Taiwan's consumer price index (CPI) growth this year by major Taiwanese and international financial institutions range from 1.70 percent to 2.30 percent, with an average of 1.95 percent, the central bank said in a report.
Factors including "international geopolitical conflicts," weather, potential Taiwan Railway Co fare increases, higher utility rates and the impact of US President Donald Trump's new economic policies are "significant uncertainties" that could affect Taiwan's inflation trends, the bank said.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
The central bank in December last year said that CPI growth was expected to be 1.89 percent this year.
The rate has been above the "2 percent inflation warning threshold" for three consecutive years, it said.
Meanwhile, the central bank spent US$16.42 billion last year to stabilize the exchange rate — the most since it began reporting such interventions in 2020.
The New Taiwan dollar depreciated 6.24 percent against the US dollar last year, the report said, a smaller depreciation than against the South Korean won and the Japanese yen.
Central bank officials are scheduled to present an oral report to the Legislature's Finance Committee today.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service