The nation’s economy has shown the first signs of steady growth in six months, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday.
The index of economic monitoring indicators flashed a “green” light last month following a run of five consecutive “yellow-blue” signals.
“The index is likely to show ‘green’ in coming months if there are no major changes concerning the global economy,” council chief secretary Kao Shien-quey (高仙桂) told a press conference, adding that the green light was not a short-term phenomenon.
Photo: CNA
The council uses a five-color spectrum to gauge economic health, with “blue” signaling recession, “green” steady growth and “red” overheating, while “yellow-blue” indicates a transition between recession and growth, and “yellow-red” a transition between growth and overheating.
The latest report showed that the score of monitoring indicators — which takes into account both leading and coincident indicators — rose three points to 24 points from a revised 21 points a month ago because of higher growth of “imports of machinery and electrical equipment,” “manufacturing sales” and “industrial production index” last month from a year earlier.
Kao said the rise of imports was because of higher investment by semiconductor companies, especially by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). The nation’s increasing investment confidence made the recovery more sustained, she added.
Kao said the nation’s exports this year are likely to register more significant growth than last year, benefiting from more solid global economic growth than the previous year.
Led by a stronger economic performance in the US and Europe, global economic growth this year is estimated to be 0.7 percent to 0.9 percent higher than a year ago based on the reports of major global research institutes, she added.
Although the tapering of the US Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing may cause money to flow back to developed countries from emerging markets, creating higher fluctuation for stock markets around the world, the council did not think the changes would trigger a financial crisis.
The economic environments for most Southeast Asian countries improved after the Asian financial crisis, and the US will minimize the impact of its policy toward these countries, Kao said.
The index of leading economic indicators, which is used to gauge the nation’s short-term economic outlook, increased to 101.8 points last month, up 0.39 percent from a month earlier, the council said.
The index of coincident indicators, which reflects monthly economic conditions, rose 0.51 percent to 100.61 points last month.
Kao said the coincident index showed more a significant increase last month, indicating a more obvious recovery.
Yet Gordon Sun (孫明德), director of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research’s (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) macroeconomic forecasting center, said that economic recovery is likely to remain mild.
It is unlikely that the economy will show any significant improvement before the second half of this year, when the nation enters its peak season for exports, Sun said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last