Taiwan’s economy remains healthy in October

2014-12-01

Taiwan’s overall economic monitoring indicator flashed green for the ninth consecutive month in October, confirming the economy is on a steady growth track, according to the National Development Council Nov. 27.

“The latest result shows Taiwan businesses remain bullish on market conditions given the improving economic climate at home and abroad,” an NDC official said.

Among the indicator’s nine components, customs-cleared exports, manufacturing sector composite and TAIEX average closing prices all lost one point, with the signals for the first two changing from green to yellow-blue and the third from yellow-red to green.

Indicators for imports of machinery and equipment, monetary aggregates M1B and producers’ shipments for manufacturing continued green, while the industrial production index is an unchanged yellow-red. Nonagricultural employment and sales of commerce have stayed in the yellow-blue for 20 and six months in a row, respectively.

“The slight drop in exports is more likely the result of weak oil prices rather than declining global demand,” the official said, adding that the lackluster performance in sales of commerce shows that business confidence has not fully recovered from the impact of the recent lard-based oil scandals.

Although the composite score fell another three points to 24, it remains in the stable zone. And while the leading indicator continued to drop, this was offset by the steadily rising coincident indicator.

The official said the NDC is cautiously optimistic about the outlook as continuous expansion in the local semiconductor sector should spur investment. “Improving employment and the upcoming shopping season will also boost consumer consumptions and inject new momentum into the local economy.”

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=224613&ctNode=445)