The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday expressed concern over the global economy in the near future, after the business climate gauges for the manufacturing and service sectors showed a month-on-month decline for the second consecutive month.
The latest survey conducted by the institute showed that the business climate gauge for the manufacturing sector dropped to 99.96 points last month, down 2.8 points from a revised 102.76 points recorded in August.
In the survey, 25.6 percent of manufacturers polled said they were optimistic about their businesses last month, up 5.6 percent from 20 percent recorded in the August poll, with 28.5 percent of respondents pessimistic about their businesses last month, an increase of 5.9 percent from August’s 22.6 percent.
However, asked about economic prospects over the next six months, 29.4 percent of local manufacturers polled last month were bearish, up from the 19.1 percent recorded in August, while respondents expressing bullish sentiment fell 7.8 percentage points to 21.3 percent, the report said.
“Other than the US, economic sentiment of other major global economies has been affected by different uncertainties, which has dragged down the nation’s securities market and led local manufacturers to feel more pessimistic about business momentum in the near future,” TIER said in the report.
In the service sector, the business climate gauge also showed a month-on-month drop for the second consecutive month, falling to 96.71 points last month, down 4.18 points from 100.89 in August, with the insurance sector showing the most pessimistic outlook for the next three to six months, the institute’s report showed.
For the construction sector, the business climate gauge dropped to 96.16 points last month, from a revised 96.32 points recorded in August, ending its month-on-month rise for the previous three consecutive months, data showed.
The institute said most sellers and buyers are maintaining a wait-and-see attitude toward the nation’s housing market, making trading momentum in the property market slower than a year earlier, mainly on the impact of the government’s announcement to launch reforms of property-related taxes before the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 29.
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