Central Bank of China

PRESS RELEASE Release Date: April 25, 2002




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Financial Conditions (March 2002)

Monetary Aggregates For the month of March 2002, the annual growth rates of the monetary aggregates M1A, M1B and M2, measured on a daily average basis, were 5.48%, 17.58%, and 4.43%, respectively. M1A growth decreased from the figure recorded in the previous month, mainly attributed to the continuing return of currency to the banking system after the Chinese lunar new year. M1B growth continued to rise, largely due to the robust transactions in the stock market, triggering a shift of time deposits to demand deposits. However, the M2 growth exhibited only a 0.01-percentage-point fall as compared with the previous month. In addition, the aggregate of M2 plus bond funds held by general public posted an annual growth rate of 6.46% for the month.

Deposits and Loans & Investments At the end of March, the annual growth rate of total deposits in major financial institutions, including monetary institutions and the Postal Savings System, rose to 4.34% from 4.22% at the end of the previous month, mainly owing to the return of currency to the banks after the Chinese lunar new year and the continuous foreign capital inflows stimulated by the bullish stock market. However, the annual growth rate of total loans and investments decreased from -1.67% at the end of the previous month to "2.42%, mainly because of the repayments of the Treasury's short-term borrowing from banks. If loans and investments extended by life insurance companies and investment and trust companies, major financial institutions' reclassifying nonaccrual loans and writing-off bad loans, as well as funds raised directly from financial markets were taken into account, the total funds raised by non-financial sectors showed an annual growth rate of 2.35% for the month.

Call-loan Rate and Reserve Conditions For the month as a whole, the fund condition in the banking system was relatively easy and the average free reserves of depository institutions and the Postal Savings System were NT$ 2.8 billion. The average overnight call-loan rate for the month continued to trend downward from 2.277% in the previous month to 2.273%.

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