The percentage of local manufacturers feeling bullish about the economy in the near future dropped to the lowest level of the year last month because of slower global economic expansion, the latest Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台經院) survey showed.
Last month, only 16.1 percent of polled companies felt optimistic about the economic outlook for the next six months, down from 30 percent in July, while those feeling neutral increased to 66.1 percent, up from 51.5 percent.
The percentage of those who felt bearish about the economy declined slightly to 17.7 percent last month, down from 18.4 percent in July, after it had risen for the previous five months, the Taipei-based think tank said.
“The fourth quarter of this year is expected to see slower growth, compared with the first half of this year, as the economy in the US, Europe and China has shown signs of slowdown,” TIER president David Hong (洪德生) told a media briefing yesterday.
Recent underperforming US and European economic data may further impact on spending in the West, leading downstream companies to become more conservative about market demand, Hong said.
Manufacturers also felt more pessimistic about the current economy than in the previous month, with the number of those with a bullish outlook dropping 6.1 percentage points and those feeling pessimistic declining 0.7 percentage points, the survey showed.
In a separate survey, however, wholesale and retail businesses in the service sector saw slightly better sentiment last month than in July as demand for daily necessities increased thanks to celebrations for the Ghost Festival, TIER said.
The tourism industry was also buoyant last month with the number of tourists rising 3.38 percent from July, the survey found, noting that tourist arrivals from Japan surged 16.8 percent from a month earlier, the report said.
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