The government's chief number cruncher released previously concealed record low consumer confidence figures yesterday in the Legislative Yuan.
In addition, the government's economic planning body also announced Taiwan's leading economic indicator in October fell to an 18-month low.
The news couldn't come at a worse time, as the new administration tries to rebuild confidence in its economic policies.
The quarterly consumer confidence survey fell to 70 in the fourth quarter, compared with 97 in the first quarter, 89 in the second quarter and 81 in the third quarter of this year.
Previously, the lowest recorded figure was 78, which was recorded in the first quarter of 1999, as the Asian economic turmoil was coming to an end.
Lin Chuan (林全), head of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS, 行政院主計處), made the disclosure yesterday while responding to KMT Legislator Chu Li-lun (朱立倫) in a question and answer session.
Less than two weeks ago, DGBAS canceled tabulation of the fourth-quarter consumer confidence index as the numbers were viewed as being "influenced by non-economic factors."
Lin said the index is meant only for reference within the statistics office and that the agency withheld the figures because it wanted to prevent the issue from being politicized.
However, Lin did admit that the figures indicate that Taiwan faces a poor business climate.
DGBAS started to tabulate the consumer confidence index in 1998 and regularly announced the results of the data to the public every three months.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's leading economic indicator fell in October to an 18-month low due to mounting uncertainty in the global economy and domestic political worries, officials said yesterday.
The indicator of economic activity for the next three months fell 1.5 percent from September to 100.9 points in October, the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD, 經建會) said in a statement.
"The 1.5 percent decline in the October leading indicator was the largest since the 1.7 percent fall registered in July 1998, suggesting limited opportunity for a reversal [from this year's downtrend] to show growth," CEPD Economic Research Director Hu Chung-ying (
Five of the seven components that make up the leading indicator fell in October, the CEPD said.
They included exports measured by value, manufacturing orders, average monthly working hours in the manufacturing sector, narrow money supply and stock prices.
However, housing construction applications and wholesale prices rose from a month ago, the CEPD said.
As well as a slowdown in the US and volatility on the world's stock markets, President Chen Shui-bian (
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