Quick answer
Taiwan's central bank sets its discount rate at four board meetings a year and moves it in unusually small steps. It raised the rate from 1.125% to 2.00% in six increases between March 2022 and March 2024, and the most recent change in the series is that final step. Its foreign exchange reserves, about USD 601.9 billion in August 2026, are among the largest in the world and are central to how it manages the Taiwan dollar.
Who this guide is for
Use this guide for USD/TWD research, North Asian central-bank comparisons, or to understand a currency driven more by semiconductor export earnings and investor flows than by interest-rate decisions.
CBC snapshot
The figures below are official statistics as stored on the Taiwan data page. Each carries its own date, because measures taken from different points in the cycle give a misleading picture.
| Measure | Latest | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Discount rate | 2.00% | Last changed 22 March 2024 |
| Foreign exchange reserves | USD 601.9 bn | August 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.41% | August 2026 |
| USD/TWD | 31.88 | 2 October 2026 |
Mandate and instruments
The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Act sets four objectives: promoting financial stability, guiding sound banking operations, maintaining the stability of the internal and external value of the currency, and, within those, fostering economic development. Exchange-rate stability is written into the mandate, which is unusual among advanced economies.
The Board meets quarterly, in March, June, September and December. The headline instrument is the discount rate, set together with the rates on secured and unsecured accommodations. The Bank also monitors growth in the M2 money supply against a published reference range.
Two further tools are used more often than the rate itself. Reserve requirement ratios are adjusted to manage liquidity, and selective credit controls, such as limits on loan-to-value ratios for property lending, are used to address the housing market without raising rates for the whole economy.
The smallest tightening cycle among major economies
The discount rate was cut to 1.125% in March 2020. The Bank raised it by 25 basis points in March 2022 and then in steps of 12.5 basis points: 1.50% in June 2022, 1.625% in September, 1.75% in December, 1.875% in March 2023 and 2.00% in March 2024. The whole cycle added 0.875 percentage points over two years.
The restraint reflects Taiwan's low inflation and the Bank's preference for targeted tools. Where other central banks raised rates by several percentage points, Taiwan's leaned on reserve requirements and property-lending limits to do part of the work.
Discount rate
Central bank discount rate, percent, by date of change.
Takeaway: Six increases took the discount rate from 1.125% to 2.00%, a cycle of less than one percentage point.
Reserves and the exchange rate
Foreign exchange reserves rose from about USD 463 billion in January 2019 to about USD 601.9 billion in August 2026, with a high of about USD 605.5 billion in February 2026. The accumulation reflects persistent current account surpluses from technology exports and the central bank's own operations in the currency market.
The labour market gives the domestic backdrop: the unemployment rate was 3.41% in August 2026, close to its low for the period, after peaking at 4.80% in June 2021.
Foreign exchange reserves
Foreign exchange reserves, USD billion, monthly.
Takeaway: Reserves have grown by about USD 139 billion since January 2019 to about USD 602 billion.
How central bank policy reaches the Taiwan dollar
The Taiwan dollar is a managed float. The central bank describes the rate as market-determined but steps in when it judges moves to be disorderly or seasonal flows to be excessive. With a policy rate this low and this stable, the interest-rate differential against the US dollar is set almost entirely by the Federal Reserve.
Three flows dominate. Semiconductor export receipts create steady demand for the currency. Foreign investors' purchases and sales of Taiwanese equities produce large swings. And Taiwanese life insurers hold very large US dollar bond portfolios, so changes in how much of that exposure they hedge can move the currency sharply. USD/TWD fell from about 33.21 in April 2025 to about 28.88 in July 2025 during one such episode, and was about 31.88 in early October 2026, almost exactly where it stood two years earlier.
The USD/TWD dashboard puts the exchange rate beside the rate differential and the release calendar for both economies.
A decision-day workflow
- Note the quarterly decision on the discount rate and any change to reserve requirements.
- Check for new or adjusted selective credit controls on property lending.
- Compare monthly foreign exchange reserves with the previous month.
- Watch foreign investor flows into Taiwanese equities for short-term currency direction.
- Track export orders and the semiconductor cycle for the underlying trade flow.
The underlying series, with the timestamp of each release, is available from the API for backtests and dashboards:
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
"https://api.fxmacrodata.com/v1/announcements/twd/foreign_reserves?start_date=2019-01-01"Official sources and related research
- Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan): policy decisions and statements.
- Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics: official statistics.
- Taiwan macro data: every tracked indicator and the release calendar.
- Policy rates by country and government bond yields by country: the same measures across covered markets.
- Policy rate cycles across currencies: how tightening and easing phases compare.
