00:00Taiwan's stock market surged to a new high on Thursday amid global optimism over the
00:06U.S. ship to a more growth-friendly monetary policy, with the central bank keeping key
00:10interest rates unchanged.
00:12This is the same as our market expectations.
00:17Why? Because we are still under 2 percent.
00:24The central bank has now kept its key interest rate at 2 percent for six straight quarters,
00:29seeing its taking a cautious approach amid global economic uncertainty.
00:33Policymakers have been monitoring the impact of U.S. tariffs on Taiwanese exports
00:38after Washington placed a 20 percent levy on goods from the country.
00:42Thursday's announcement comes after the U.S. Federal Reserve
00:45cut its key interest rate to a target range of four and a quarter percent.
00:49In support of our goals and in light of the shift in the balance of risks,
00:53today the Federal Open Market Committee decided to lower our policy interest rate by a quarter
00:58percentage point.
00:59The Fed's cut is the first since last December, with officials signaling that they will continue
01:05to slowly lower borrowing costs through the rest of this year. Analysts say the challenges has been
01:11finding a balance. Lowering rates too quickly could drive prices up, but keeping them too high risks
01:17driving unemployment.
01:18It is a risk management cut, but at the same time, because the Fed is likely to be cutting rates again
01:25in October and December, it's an effort to put a floor underneath a cooling job market,
01:35and thereby reduce the risk of recession.
01:38But here in Taiwan, even with interest rates unchanged, the central bank says it's projecting
01:43growth of just over four and a half percent this year, with slower growth next year as tariff
01:48impacts are felt more strongly.
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