Taiwan Central Bank Holds Discount Rate at 2% for 10th Straight Quarter

Taiwan’s central bank has kept its discount rate at 2% since raising it by 12.5 basis points in March 2024, shifting the focus of monetary policy toward curbing inflation and housing-market risks. Any rate adjustment would affect borrowing costs for businesses and mortgage holders, while the seventh round of selective credit controls also shapes banks’ property lending and homebuyer financing.

At its second-quarter joint meeting of the board of directors and supervisors on June 18, 2026, the central bank kept the discount rate at 2%, marking a ninth consecutive quarter without a change and matching market expectations. It also left the seventh round of credit controls unchanged and will continue monitoring whether housing transactions, prices and banks’ real-estate lending are cooling.

Taiwan's central bank sets policy rates at meetings of its board of directors and supervisors, influencing mortgage rates, corporate financing and New Taiwan dollar funding costs. A hold this quarter would mark the eighth consecutive meeting with no rate change. Despite strong export momentum, geopolitical tensions, tariff uncertainty and domestic inflationary pressure are likely to keep the central bank's policy stance neutral with a tightening bias.

Financial industry respondents unanimously expect the central bank to stand pat at its first-quarter board meeting on March 19, neither raising nor cutting policy rates. Governor Yang Chin-long also said the monetary policy stance is moving toward tightening and that the second quarter will be a key period for assessment. Subsequent decisions will depend on changes in prices, exports and external risks.