The nation's economy showed signs of a pick-up last month, with the index of leading indicators up 0.9 percent from July, when it fell 0.7 percent, the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) said yesterday.
The showing signalled a "green light" reading on the economy, which indicates steady growth, following five consecutive months of "yellow-blue light" reflecting a slowdown, the council said.
The council uses a five-level spectrum to gauge domestic economic health, with blue indicating recession, yellow-blue a slowdown, green steady growth, yellow-red a slight overheating and red an absolute overheating.
A survey of manufacturers by the council last month showed that 19 percent of those polled were optimistic about the economic prospects for the next three months, up from 17 percent in the previous month, while the percentage of pessimists fell to 17 percent last month from 23 percent the previous month.
Based on the poll, the council predicted that the country's economic performance will improve in the second half of this year, unless oil prices surge significantly.
The slight optimism was based on the improvement in economic performance last month, with business revenue increasing by 3.8 percent over the previous month, orders rising by 2.4 percent over the month before, and the equipment-utilization rate growing by 1.4 percent over July, the council said.
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
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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
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