Taiwan central bank will adopt ‘appropriate’ monetary policy next year

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s central bank said on Saturday it will adopt an “appropriate” monetary policy and properly use various tools to promote price stability and help the economy next year.

Taiwan’s trade-dependent economy is flagging in the face of mounting global economic woes, with its exports last month dropping 13.1% on-year, though inflation, a key central bank concern, has been slowing.

The consumer price index was 2.35% higher in November than a year earlier, the lowest reading in nine months.

In a report to parliament ahead of governor Yang Chin-long taking lawmaker questions on Monday, the central bank said in outlining its plans for next year that it will carefully watch the domestic and foreign economic and financial situation.

It will “adopt an appropriate monetary policy and properly use various monetary policy tools” to “promote price stability and assist in economic success”, it said, without elaborating.

The central bank will hold its quarterly rate-setting meeting on Thursday.

At the last meeting in September, the bank raised the benchmark discount rate by 12.5 basis points, to 1.625%.

At its meeting next week the central bank will also provide an updated forecast for economic growth this year and next.

Taiwan’s statistics agency last month lowered its gross domestic product forecast for 2022 to 3.06%, from August’s 3.76% forecast. It also trimmed the export outlook for the year and said it would contract in 2023.