Local manufacturers were pessimistic about the economy last month due to declining orders, pressing the manufacturing climate index down to a level as not seen since the SARS outbreak in 2003, according to a survey released by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台經院) yesterday.
The survey showed that manufacturers that were optimistic about the economy dropped to 12.3 percent last month from 31.7 percent in March, while those who were pessimistic shot to 42 percent from 7.3 percent. As a result, the manufacturing climate index slipped by 3.51 points to 96.65 points last month.
"The index is similar to what it was when SARS hit the nation in 2003," said Chen Miao (
The research institution attributed the decline to sinking orders, which further drove down prices and company margins.
But the good news is that, for the next six months, manufacturers said they are positive about seasonal demand. According to the same survey, 27.5 percent of the polled said they believe the economy will improve, up from 16.5 percent in the previous poll, and 17.6 percent said the economy will slow down, dropping from 26.5 percent.
Affected by rising oil prices that led to a global economic slowdown, Taiwan's export orders rose 15.4 percent to US$20.8 billion last month, the smallest gain since November 2003, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said Tuesday.
The sluggish exports also made the government lower its forecast for economic growth to 3.63 percent from 4.21 percent it made in February. But TIER will maintain its GDP forecast unchanged for the nation at this point, said David Hong (
The institute revised its GDP prediction this year to 4.41 percent last month, slightly down from the 4.62 percent forecast it made in January.
To stimulate the economy, Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) announced a slew of measures last week, including budgeting NT$200 billion (US$6.4 billion) for loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, and offering NT$300 billion government-backed preferential mortgages for first-time homebuyers.
Following in the footsteps of US Federal Reserve that raised the benchmark federal funds rate for the eighth successive time, by 25 basis points to 3 percent earlier this month, the nation's central bank is likely to raise its rediscount rates, currently stands at 1.875 percent, to narrow the rate spread next month, Chen said.
As for foreign exchange rate, Chen said trading of New Taiwan dollar will remain stable against the US dollar under the close watch of the central bank.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy