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Taiwan's Broad Money Supply Touches Record High in May

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Taiwan's Broad Money Supply Touches Record High in May

Taiwan's broad money supply rose to a record high in May amid increased lending and investment activity, the Central Bank of the Republic of China said Thursday.

M2, or the physical currency circulating in the economy, rose 7.83% year over year to nearly NT$70 trillion in May. On a monthly basis, M2 rose 1.12%.

M1B, or Taiwan's narrow money supply, increased 9.56% year over year to NT$30.6 trillion during the month. The figure was 1.56% higher than the NT$30.1 trillion in the previous month.

The average growth rate for January to May stood at 6.12% for M2 and 7.67% for M1B.

Meanwhile, the central bank said lending and investing across monetary institutions jumped 9.36% year over year in May to NT$56.1 trillion, thanks to faster growth in bank claims on the private sector.

Government claims grew about 3.5% year over year to NT$6.35 trillion, while claims against state-owned enterprises rose 7.7% to NT$2.30 trillion. Private sector claims expanded 10% year over year to NT$47.5 trillion.

"For the month of May 2026, the weighted average interest rate on newly-extended loans of the five major domestic banks increased by 0.002 percentage points from 2.206% in the previous month to 2.208%. This was because, while interest rates for consumer loans declined, those for all other loan categories increased," the central bank said in a separate same-day statement. The banks are Bank of Taiwan, Taiwan Cooperative Bank, First Commercial Bank, Hua Nan Commercial Bank and Land Bank of Taiwan.

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