COST OF LIVING/Central bank leaves rates unchanged for 4th straight quarter

Taipei, March 20 (CNA) The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) on Thursday decided to leave its key interest rates unchanged after wrapping up a quarterly policymaking meeting.

It is the fourth consecutive quarter the central bank left interest rates intact.

The decision to leave interest rates unchanged was widely anticipated by the market, with analysts saying the central bank would rather maintain its current monetary policy for now as it needs more time to observe possible impacts on the economy resulting from tariff actions taken by the Trump administration.

Overnight, the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to leave interest rates unchanged, which also influenced the local central bank's policy on Thursday, analysts said.

After the decision, the discount rate remains at 2 percent -- which is still the highest in 15 years -- with rate on accommodations with collateral at 2.375 percent and the rate on accommodations without collateral at 4.250 percent.

Last week, Yang Chin-long (楊金龍), governor of the central bank, told lawmakers in a hearing at the Legislative Yuan that it was unlikely the bank would cut interest rates for the moment unless consumer price index growth dips below 1.5 percent.

In the first two months of this year, the CPI grew 2.12 percent.

Analysts said as state-run Taiwan Power Co. is likely to raise electricity rates in April to help the company make up high accumulated losses, the central bank could come under pressure to raise interest rates later this year to take on growing inflation caused by higher electricity bills.

At Thursday's meeting, the central bank decided not to come up with a new round of selective credit controls on the local home market, but noted that the seventh round of credit controls imposed in September 2024 has resulted in a fall in transactions and a slowdown in home price growth.