Perng said the pay he receives is similar to that of a ministerial-level official in Taiwan, which is approximately US$67,000 a year, and that such pay is enough to support his lifestyle.

Perng was responding to a question raised in a meeting of the Legislative Yuan's Finance Committee by opposition Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Wei-cher, who was curious about the annual income of the governor and if he has any plans to work in the private sector after retirement.

According to Huang, although Perng's performance has been rated an "A" by Global Finance magazine for the sixth year in 2009, his pay is relatively low.

Huang noted that the pay of a ministerial-level official in Taiwan is a far cry from the US$1.53 million received by the head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

The amount is also hardly comparable to the US$513,000 made by the head of the European Central Bank, US$500,000 by the chief of the Bank of England, and US$186,000 by chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Huang said.

Also during the meeting, Perng was asked by lawmakers if the Central Bank is prepared to raise the country's key interest rates by June 2010, but he refused to give any indication of the bank's plans.

The Central Bank has cut the interest rates seven times since September 2008.

On the issue of which banks will be designated as the clearing banks for Chinese currency transactions, Perng said in order to be qualified to become a clearing bank, a bank must be large enough in terms of scale, be internationalized, has the ability to distinguish between real and fake Chinese yuan banknotes, and displays good compliance with laws.

(By Kao Chao-fen and Y.F. Low)