(Corrects Reuters Instrument Code for Taiwan dollar in second last paragraph) * Benchmark discount rate left unchanged at 1.125% as expected * Taiwan c.bank raises 2021 growth forecast to 4.53% * Sees strong export momentum, mild inflation * ‘Tone of monetary policy still accommodative’: governor TAIPEI, March 18 (Reuters) - Taiwan’s central bank revised up the island’s growth outlook for the year on Thursday as strong exports bolstered the trade-reliant economy in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, and kept interest rates steady as expected. Taiwan has weathered the health crisis better than its neighbours by keeping infections largely at bay, while its export-reliant economy has and continues to gain from global demand for its tech products as many people work from home. At its quarterly meeting, the central bank kept the benchmark discount rate at a record low of 1.125%, as expected by all 12 economists in a Reuters poll. This is the fourth time in a year it has decided to keep rates unchanged. It last cut rates at its March, 2020 quarterly meeting. Taiwan’s decision to hold fire comes after the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled it was in no hurry to raise interest rates through all of 2023 even as it saw a swift recovery in the world’s largest economy. Central Bank Governor Yang Chin-long would not be drawn on a timetable for any rate rise, saying the process depended on the pace of any U.S. increase as well as Taiwan’s own economic and inflation performance, noting the economy was growing stably and not overheating. “The tone of our monetary policy is still accommodative,” Yang said. “To adjust the interest rate we need to see our current and future forecast for economic growth and inflation.” Richard Tai, an analyst at Cathay Securities Investment Trust, said policymakers would be keeping a wary eye on the global economic recovery despite Taiwan’s own bright outlook. “I expect there will be no possibility of raising interest rates until the first half of next year,” he said. The central bank raised its 2021 estimate for gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 4.53% from 3.68% forecast in December. Growth cooled to 3.11% in 2020 but snapped back sharply in the fourth quarter from a steep contraction early in the year. The bank said in a statement it saw stronger growth momentum for exports as well as stable economic growth this year, boosted by “hot demand” for the island’s tech products as well as a rebound in consumer confidence and retail sales at home. The island’s inflation outlook is mild, and a continuation of accommodative monetary policy will help support growth, it added. The strong Taiwan dollar has vexed Yang, who said last week the island could be labelled by Washington as a currency manipulator. Yang said he had given a “response” to the United States on the currency issue, but declined to provide details. (Reporting by Liang-sa Loh and Yimou Lee; Additional reporting by Roger Tung; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Kim Coghill)