Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行), the largest lender in the country, is to raise the benchmark one-year time savings deposit rate to a 15-year-high 1.715 percent from tomorrow following a surprise central bank rate hike.
The increase reflected a 12.5 basis-point key interest rate increase instituted by the central bank on Friday, Bank of Taiwan said.
The state-owned lender is also to raise its two-year time savings deposit rate and three-year time savings deposit rate by 0.125 percentage points to 1.750 percent and 1.785 percent respectively.
Photo: Lu Kuan-cheng, Taipei Times
Under the new rates, one-year time savings depositors who have NT$1 million (US$31,291) in their accounts would receive more than NT$17,280 in annual interest payments, up from NT$16,020, based on compound-rate calculations, Bank of Taiwan said.
On Thursday, the central bank said it would raise key interest rates the next day in light of higher Taiwan Power Co (台電) electricity rates effective from April 1.
After the central bank’s latest rate hike, Taiwan’s benchmark discount rate has increased to 2 percent.
The central bank said it has revised consumer price index growth to 2.16 percent for this year, above the 2 percent alert level it set as well as an earlier 1.89 percent forecast in December last year, prompting it to raise rates for the first time since March 2022.
The central bank’s decision came as a surprise after the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged.
With the changes, Taiwan’s rate on accommodations with collateral has risen to 2.375 percent, while accommodations without collateral increased to 4.25 percent, the central bank said.
From March 2022 to March last year, the central bank raised interest rates 75 basis points, which led Bank of Taiwan’s one-year time savings deposit rate to increase to 1.59 percent from 0.84 percent.
Bank of Taiwan had also increased interest payments on deposits of NT$1 million to almost NT$16,020 from about NT$8,340 a year, based on compound rate calculations, during the same period.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
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DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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