Central Bank of China

PRESS RELEASE Release Date: January 30, 2004




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Financial Conditions (December 2003)

Monetary Aggregates For the month of December 2003, the annual growth rates of the monetary aggregates M1A, M1B and M2, measured on a daily average basis, were 18.53%, 18.10%, and 5.55%, respectively. All the three measures were lower than those in the previous month mainly due to last year's higher base. In addition, M2 plus bond funds held by the general public also edged down from 7.49% at the end of the previous month to 7.48%. For the year 2003 as a whole, M2 and M2 plus bond funds held by the general public exhibited an average annual growth rate of 3.77% and 5.25% respectively, both were within the CBC's monetary growth target zone.

Direct and Indirect Finance At the end of December, the annual growth rate of total outstanding loans and investments in major financial institutions, including monetary institutions and the Chunghwa Post Co., rose from 2.55% at the end of the previous month to 2.67%. This was mainly due to the substantial increase of bank loans to private enterprises. If(1)loans and investments extended by life insurance companies and investment and trust companies,(2)non-accrual loans reclassified and bad loans written-off by major financial institutions, and(3)funds raised directly from capital markets were all taken into account, the total amount of funds raised by non-financial sectors showed an annual growth rate of 6.85%, higher than the 6.32% posted in November.



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Notes: 1. The upcoming Financial Conditions (January 2004) is scheduled for release at 16:20 on February 25, 2004.

2. For the release schedule for the next six months, please check the CBC website at http://www.cbc.gov.tw/EngHome/ESSDS/calacal.htm


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