[Finance] Central bank keeps interest rates unchanged for the 9th consecutive time; housing market control measures remain the same.
bellala 央廣2h ago
The Central Bank held its second quarterly board meeting today (18th). The Central Bank stated that considering the domestic inflation outlook remains moderate and domestic economic growth momentum is expected to be stable; to prudently respond to the uncertainties in the global economic and financial outlook, and the potential impact of the Middle East conflict on domestic prices and the economy, the board believes that maintaining the current policy interest rate will contribute to the stable development of the overall economy and finance. This is also the ninth consecutive quarter the Central Bank has maintained the interest rate unchanged.
The Central Bank's rediscount rate, rate on accommodations for secured loans, and rate on short-term accommodations remain at 2%, 2.375%, and 4.25% per annum, respectively.
The Central Bank pointed out that since the first quarterly board meeting in March this year, investments related to artificial intelligence (AI) have continued to increase, and the global manufacturing sector's performance continues to expand; however, the Middle East conflict has affected global energy supply. Major international institutions expect international crude oil and other commodity prices to remain high, pushing up global inflationary pressures and suppressing global demand, leading to downward revisions of global economic growth forecasts for this year and upward revisions of global inflation rate forecasts for this year. Recently, with the preliminary agreement reached between the US and Iran, crude oil prices have fallen significantly.
The Central Bank has also revised its economic growth forecast for Taiwan this year to 9.45%; and slightly revised its forecasts for Taiwan's CPI and core CPI year-on-year growth rates to 1.91% and 1.9% respectively.
Regarding real estate control measures, the Central Bank stated that since the moderate adjustment of the maximum loan-to-value ratio for second-home purchases by individuals nationwide in March this year, the proportion of home purchase loans for individuals without self-occupied housing among loans for purchasing residential properties handled by domestic banks has continued to increase, and the proportion of loans for urban renewal and reconstruction of old and dangerous buildings among construction loans has also tended to rise; however, the public's expectation of rising housing prices remains subdued, market transactions have cooled down, and the pace of housing price increases has slowed.
Currently, the ratio of real estate loans to total loans for all banks (real estate loan concentration) has continued to decline from a high of 37.6% at the end of June 2024 to 35.2% at the end of May this year; during this period, the balance of real estate loans continued to increase, while the increase in the balance of other loans (i.e., total loans minus real estate loans) was greater than the increase in the balance of real estate loans, with credit related to stock market activities expanding significantly.
The Central Bank stated that it will continue to review the internal controls of all banks regarding the total volume of real estate loans and monitor the flow of credit resources to the real economic activities of productive enterprises; in addition, it will pay attention to the potential impact of real estate-related policies on the housing market, review the effectiveness of credit control measures on a rolling basis, and adjust the content of relevant measures in a timely manner. (Editor: Song Wanyuan)
Source Link: https://www.rti.org.tw/news?uid=3&pid=215326
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