Taiwan’s business cyclical indicators continued to flash a “yellow-blue” light last month, reaffirming signs of a slowdown in the economy, the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday.
This was the second consecutive month government monitoring indicators shifted downward, mainly over import-related inflation that is expected to climb higher later this year, the council said in a report on its Web site.
The leading index and the trend-adjusted coincident index dropped 0.1 percent and 0.5 percent respectively last month from the previous month, reflecting a downside risk in economic growth, the report said.
The composite leading index remained at 106.6 points — the same as in May — but the annualized six-month rate of change dropped 0.1 point.
Among the seven indicators making up the composite index, real monetary aggregates, the stock price index, the index of export orders, the index of producer’s inventory and average monthly overtime hours in industry and services all had negative cyclical movements from a month earlier, the report showed.
Only the semiconductor industry’s book-to bill ratio and building permits for the construction sector displayed positive movements, compared with May, the report said.
The coincident index slipped 0.1 percent to stand at 108.9 points from a month earlier, while its trend-adjusted series lowered 0.5 percent to 98.3 points, the report said, adding that only power consumption showed positive cyclical movement from May.
Sales indexes for the wholesale, retail and food services, manufacturing sales, imports of machinery and electrical equipment, the indexes of industrial production, customs-cleared exports and nonagricultural employment all posted negative cyclical movements from the previous month, the report said.
The council had been scheduled to present the report at a media briefing, but had to cancel because of Typhoon Fung-wong and instead published the indicators online.
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