The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台經院) yesterday released its monthly business climate survey, which showed that local industries have reservations about the outlook for the next six months, while other indicators showed that the economy is in stable recovery.
The survey found that only 20.1 percent of respondents were optimistic about the outlook in the next six months, down from 27.6 percent in September.
Meanwhile, about 63 percent of respondents held a reserved outlook for the same period, an increase from 46.1 percent in the previous month, while 17.2 percent thought it will get worse, down from 26.3 percent in September.
Last month’s business climate index for the manufacturing sector stood at 117.28, down by 1.26 points from September’s results, the survey found.
TIER said the manufacturing sector was rather reserved on the outlook for the next six months because of the depreciation of the US dollar, the rise in international prices of basic materials, the decline in revenues among petrochemical and coal products manufacturers, and the fact that businesses are entering their low season.
The same index for the service sector registered 119.87, down 2.26 points from the previous month, TIER said, which attributed the drop to profit decline in securities firms and telecommunications companies.
“Despite the slight decline in both indexes, the overall situation is still pretty good and the economy seems to be in stable recovery,” TIER president David Hong (洪德生) said.
The Taipei-based think tank said that business in wholesale and retail sectors was better last month than in September because of the economy’s gradual recovery from Typhoon Morakot as well as the launch of the traditional discount season in department stores, which stimulated consumption.
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