Taiwan central bank keeps interest rate unchanged as expected

[TAIPEI] Taiwan's Central Bank left its policy rate unchanged as expected after its quarterly policy meeting Thursday.

The discount rate, the rate at which the central bank lends to financial institutions mainly for short term purposes, will stay at 1.875 per cent, where it has been since July 2011.

All 14 economists in a Reuters poll had predicted no change to the discount rate.

External demand for the island's signature tech goods has been slipping amid a patchy global recovery. But economists have said that monetary policy, already considered accommodative, can do little to fix the trade-reliant economy's slowing growth.

REUTERS